7-11, Robert Adam Street

7-11 Robert Adam Street is a group of five terraced houses built around 1780 as part of the Portman Estate. The frontages are of stock brick, although the ground floors of numbers 8-11 have been rendered. They have York Stone cills and coping, and slate roofs.

Architecturally, numbers 7-9 each have three windows, with numbers 7 having a door to the right, the others with a central door. Numbers 10-11 have two bays and doors to the left. Most of the sash windows have been replaced with plate glass. Cast iron railings are present to the front.

Number 7 features aedicular surrounds to the ground and first-floor windows, and a fanlight over the front door. A depressed arch of moulded stone springs from imposts at second floor level. The upper part of the front previously had a pediment containing a roundel of a lion, but this was dismantled in the 1950s following the lowering of the parapet and demolition of the westerly neighbour, necessitating a rebuild of the flank wall.

Number 8 has an arched door opening to the centre and Regency 'Cottingham' cast iron balconies to the first-floor windows. Number 9 features a Queen Anne Revival door hood with carved wooden brackets. Number 10 has an arched door surround with rusticated quoins, likely made of Coade stone, and number 11 has a simple arched door surround.

The rear elevations, overlooking Baker's Mews, are varied. Number 7 has a late Georgian/early Victorian outbuilding, while number 8 incorporates an early 20th-century mews building over garages, now part of 15 Baker's Mews and excluded from the listing. Number 9 contains a tall, late Victorian/Edwardian, three-storey building with stone mullion and transom windows to the first floor, and a Venetian window to the second floor, incorporating stained glass panels, which is said to have been a former chapel. Numbers 10-11 are late Georgian mews buildings with a garage opening to number 10.

The interiors were not fully inspected, but a 2001 survey revealed surviving original features. Number 7 is largely unaltered, including an Adam-style chimneypiece in the front ground-floor room, with slips of Brocatello marble and a frieze embellished with husk rinceaux. There is also elaborate plasterwork with classical figures, urns, sphinxes, garlands, and paterae, along with cupboards, dado and skirting. A panelled ground floor rear room has a chimneypiece flanked by fluted pilasters, panelled door, skirting, dado, and a plaster cornice. Panelled partitions and an open-string staircase with square rails and decorated tread-ends are also present. Some fireplaces exist on upper floors. Number 8 has been recently adapted for office use. Number 9 retains a staircase, some plasterwork, panelling and fireplaces. Number 10 retains the staircase and joinery on the upper floors, while number 11 retains only the staircase, having otherwise been altered.

Historically, these houses are the last remaining from the former Adam Street, renamed Robert Adam Street in 1938 (the architect had no connection to the development). They were first listed in rate books in 1780 and shown on an estate plan of that date, although not present on a 1777 plan. The row originally extended further west, but that portion was demolished around 1950 when the north entrance to Baker’s Mews was created.