4, St James'S Street

This is a shop with living accommodation above, completed in 1791. It was designed by John Palmer and built by William Hewlett. The front, right side, and rear of the building are faced with limestone ashlar, with the ground floor side and rear painted. It has a mansard roof covered with Welsh slate, hipped on the right side, and incorporates a coped party wall with a truncated ashlar stack to the left and an ashlar stack with early clay pots on the right side.

The building is three storeys high, with an attic and basement, and features a single window range. The corner location at the intersection of St James's Street and St James's Place results in a rear elevation with two angles facing St James's Place. The first floor has a six-over-six horned sash window in a plain reveal, and the second floor has a similar sash with a stone sill. A 20th-century shopfront occupies the ground floor. A dormer window with a six-over-six sash is present in the roof. A weathered sill band runs continuously with numbers 5 and 6 St James's Street. It has a moulded eaves cornice and a coped parapet, also continuous with numbers 5 and 6 St James's Street. The rear elevation retains early six-over-six sash windows, along with a 20th-century window and door on the ground floor. A grating is set into the pavement at basement level.

A canopy is attached to the right side and rear, forming an entrance to St James’s Place, and is also attached to number 3 St James’s Place. A decorative series of brackets beneath the canopy once supported hooks, reportedly used by a butcher. The interior was not inspected, but historical records suggest the survival of a staircase with Doric column newel posts.

The building is part of the unfinished St James's Square development, constructed on land leased in 1790 by Fielder, King, Hewlett and Broom from Sir Peter Rivers Gay. St James's Street forms one of four diagonal approaches to St James's Square, illustrating the application of Picturesque principles to town planning. An underlease was granted to William Hewlett in 1791 for 96 years.