15, St James's Square SW1 is a Grade I listed building in the Westminster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 February 1958. Terraced town house. 17 related planning applications.
15, St James's Square SW1
- WRENN ID
- swift-newel-yew
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Westminster
- Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 February 1958
- Type
- Terraced town house
- Address
- 15, St James's Square SW1, City of Westminster, SW1Y 4LB
- OS grid reference
- TQ 294 803
- Coordinates
- 51.50725, -0.13673
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
No 15 St James's Square, known as Lichfield House, is a terraced town house built between 1764 and 1766 by James Stuart for Thomas Anson, with alterations made by Samuel Wyatt from 1791 to 1794. The building is faced with Portland stone and has a slate roof. It is a notable example of the Greek Revival style, featuring exquisite proportions. The house has three storeys and a basement, with a width of three windows.
The ground floor is smoothly rusticated, with openings set in an arcade. The entrance, located to the right, is approached by steps and features a panelled door flanked by recessed Tuscan columns, an entablature above the door, and a radial glazed fanlight. The glazing bar sash windows, which have rounded heads, are set in simply moulded surrounds. The piano nobile has elongated glazing bar sashes in simple architraves with pediments above, while the second floor features eared architraves.
These upper floors are distinguished by a single giant order of pedestalled fluted Ionic columns, inspired by Stuart's study of the Erechtheum, which support an entablature with a pediment above. A stone balcony across the first floor has a copper geometric pattern balustrade, an alteration made by Samuel Wyatt. There is a wave moulded sill band at the second floor.
At the rear, Wyatt added two-storey flattened bows and a three-storey rear wing with a rusticated brick ground floor, stone dressings, and a tripartite Venetian window arrangement on the first floor, which is a combination of Stuart's design and Wyatt's alterations. The interior was significantly remodeled by Wyatt between 1791 and 1794. Although Stuart's main staircase has been removed, the upper gallery and a fine glazed dome with eagle pendentives and "Wedgwood" medallions remain. The first floor features excellent decoration from both Stuart and Wyatt, with plasterwork by Joseph Rose and painting by Biagio Rebecca.
Local climate
15, St James's Square SW1 sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 17 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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