No. 8 And Attached Railings

No. 8 is a house, now converted into flats, completed in 1792 with 19th and 20th-century additions. It was designed by John Palmer and built by William Culverwell. The front of the house is faced with limestone ashlar, with rubble to the basement and render to the rear. It has a Welsh slate, double-pile, mansard roof with artificial slate to the rear, and a coped gable wall with two ashlar stacks to the left. A staircase leads to the front.

The house is three storeys high, with an attic, basement, and sub-basement, presenting a two-bay facade. The first floor has a six/six-sash window with crown glass in a plain reveal and a stone sill, and a wrought-iron balconette. The first floor to the right features a plate glass window above a porch extension. The second floor has two six/six-sashes in plain reveals with stone sills; the ground floor has a similar sash with crown glass to the left. The porch extension has a six-panel door with reeded and raised panels and a cast iron knocker within a pedimented Doric doorcase, preceded by a single pennant step. The porch features a cornice that extends to the front and sides, with a single-pane window to the ground floor left and a recessed panel to the ground floor right. A half landing level to the front of the porch has two 19th-century plate glass, horned sashes in plain reveals with stone sills, a moulded cornice, and a coped parapet. The basement has two 20th-century six/six-sash, horned windows in plain reveals with a continuous sill, a small opening to the sub-basement, and a plank door with a two-light window in an ashlar infilling below a crossover, alongside ashlar area steps. A triple dormer has plate glass sashes. Other exterior details include a band course over the ground floor, a frieze, a moulded eaves cornice and a coped parapet.

The rear elevation is single bayed, with three sashes to the ground, first, and second floors; plate glass to the ground and first floors, and four/four and six/six sashes to the second floor, each with narrower sashes to the left and right, and continuous stone sills. A triple dormer also features plate glass sashes. The basement has a six/six sash in a plain reveal with a stone sill, a nine-pane half-glazed door, and a small ashlar extension.

The interior has not been inspected.

Attached to the house are wrought iron railings with urn tops on limestone bases. The house was part of an incomplete development of St James’s Square, built on land leased in 1790. A lower part of Park Street constitutes one of the four diagonal approaches to St James’s Square. An underlease was granted in 1792 for 94 years.