79 and 81, Harley Street W1

Nos. 79 and 81 Harley Street are terraced townhouses built around 1774 as part of the Portland Estate development. No. 79 was designed by John White in partnership with the plasterer Thomas Collins, while No. 81 was designed by John Johnson. The buildings are constructed of stock brick with channelled stucco ground floors and feature slate roofs. They rise four storeys with basements, and No. 81 has a dormered mansard roof.

Both houses have three-window wide fronts, with semicircular arched doorways on the left that have vermiculated Coade stone surrounds and head keystones. The doorways feature panelled doors, framed sidelights, and shallow recessed doorheads under fanlights designed to resemble Venetian windows. The upper floors have recessed sash windows under flat gauged arches, with No. 81 displaying added stucco architraves and segmental pediments on consoles at the first floor.

Additional architectural details include a first-floor plat band, parapets with copings, and a mutule cornice below the parapet of No. 81. Both houses have continuous cast iron balconies with an anthemion pattern at the first floor, and wrought iron area railings topped with urn finials. No. 81 also features scrollwork lampholders.

Inside, the houses retain several features typical of high-quality homes from the 1770s in Harley Street, including top-lit geometrical stone staircases, albeit with later iron balustrades. Some of the original Ionic columned or pilastered chimneypieces remain, along with plasterwork featuring mythological medallions, particularly in No. 81, which displays characteristics of the Adam-Wyatt style associated with Johnson.