8, Castle Street

This is a substantial house, later used as a nursing home and now vacant, built between 1723 and 1728 for James Brydges, the Duke of Chandos. It was designed by Benjamin Holloway or Fort and Shepherd, who were surveyors working for the Duke in London. The house is constructed from Flemish-bond brick, with red brick on the ground floor which connects to number 6 to the right, and red and yellow brick on the upper floors, marked by a vertical joint to the right. A moulded stone cornice runs to the right and rises to meet the cornice of number 10 to the left. The windows are framed by stone architraves cut from rectangular blocks set into the brickwork, and there are stone brackets and cills. The double-pitched roof is covered in plain tiles, with a flat roof between the ridges, and brick stacks to the gable ends. The house follows a double-depth plan, with three storeys, an attic and a cellar, and has a symmetrical five-window front. Modern windows are 6/6-pane sashes. The modern front door is set within a bolection-moulded architrave, below a shallow hood with a moulded cornice on brackets. To the right of the door is a wide segmental brick arch leading to the cellar, and to the left are two similar arches placed below the windows.

The interior has been remodelled. A late 19th-century semi-elliptical arch with paired consoles and a foliate rose is located in the rear passage, leading to a simple 19th-century conservatory with margin-pane glazing over two panels in the door. A front right ground-floor room features late 18th-century semi-elliptical arched recesses flanking an Adam-style fire surround, which is painted wood with a richly ornamented cornice, a fluted frieze with vase ends, and blocks over pendant palmettes to the pilasters. The white marble inset has an ornamental wooden frame and a beaded arris. Panelled shutters and a late 18th-century six-panel door are also present in this room. A ground-floor rear left room contains a tall, thin four-panel door, a high dado rail, and ovolo-moulded frames to plain full-height panelling. A 20th-century glass screen divides the room laterally at the chimney breast, and the rear wall has been set back approximately 2 metres, featuring a 20th-century sloping glass roof and French windows. The terraces of houses in Castle Street form a significant group, notable for their scale and ambition outside of London’s West End.