No.40 And Attached Railings

No. 40 is a house that has been converted into flats, built around 1790 to 1793 by John Palmer, with some alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. The front is made of limestone ashlar, while the basement is rendered. The rear features both ashlar and rendered sections, and the roof is a double pile parapeted mansard covered with Welsh slate, complete with a coped party wall and two ashlar stacks on the right.

The building has three storeys, an attic, and a basement, with a two-window range. On the first floor, there are two six-over-six sash windows in splayed reveals with stone sills, one of which has a wrought iron balconette. The second floor has two similar windows without a balconette, while the ground floor features one similar window on the right and a six-panel door on the left. This door has beaded, fielded panels and a single glazed panel, adorned with a 19th-century brass knocker in a pedimented Doric doorcase. There is one step leading to a pennant paved crossover with a wrought iron footscraper, and a small plate glass sash window to the left of the front door. The basement has two six-over-six sash windows with plain reveals and a continuous stone sill, with no door at the front under the crossover and 20th-century area steps. A double dormer with six-over-six sashes is present as well. The building features a band course over the ground floor, a frieze, a moulded eaves cornice, and a coped parapet.

The rear elevation is mostly hidden but includes a canted full-height parapeted bay with six-over-six sashes on the second floor. The interior has not been inspected. Attached to the building are wrought iron railings and a gate with urn tops on painted limestone bases. Historically, No. 40 is part of an incomplete development for St James's Square, situated on land leased from Sir Peter Rivers Gay in March 1790. The lower part of Park Street serves as one of the four diagonal approaches to St James's Square.