40, King Street WC2

This is a shop and offices, originally a house dating from the early 18th century on the Bedford Estate. Ratebooks indicate the house was rebuilt in several phases between 1753 and 1781. In the mid-19th century, the building was heightened by two floors and the windows were replaced. A late 20th-century shopfront was added. The building is constructed of stock brick with a flat roof hidden behind a parapet. It is five storeys high, with a basement, and has three windows. A stone parapet is present, along with horizontal bands below the fourth and third floors. The windows are mid-19th-century sash windows with vertical glazing bars and horns, set within original brick reveals with brick arches. The interior features a staircase dating approximately to 1720, with moulded and turned balusters, newel posts, a moulded handrail, a simple dado panel, and a closed stair string with a carriage architrave detail. Part of the balustrading on the top flight of the staircase has been concealed. A rear room on the first floor has full-height painted panelling on the west wall, with lower panelling on the other three walls. It also includes a moulded cornice, a wooden fireplace, a narrow cupboard, and wide carved architraves around the doors. The upper part of the staircase is from the mid-19th century, with stick balusters and column newels. A late 19th-century fire door opens into the adjacent building at number 41. Previous occupants included the poet and dramatist Moses Mendes, Lord Chedworth in 1757, and the antiquary Daniel Wray in 1770.