Brook's Mews
The two most immediately noticeable features of Brook's
Mews are the steep descent into it from Davies Street and
its considerable width. For most of its length the mews is
therefore substantially lower than either Brook Street or
Grosvenor Street, a feature which had an effect on the
relationship between the mews buildings and the houses to
which they belonged. At No. 16 Grosvenor Street, for
instance, not only were the coach-houses and stables at the
same level as the basement of the house but the kitchen also
occupied what was in effect the rear part of the ground
floor of the mews building (fig. 15 on page 37).
Like most of the other mews on the estate, Brook's
Mews originally had a narrow main entrance, but its
general spaciousness nevertheless made it vulnerable to the
instrusion of commerce and light industry. As the mews
buildings tended to become separated from the houses in
Brook Street and Grosvenor Street the Estate took
particular care in its leases to guard against undesirable
uses, and by the end of the nineteenth century the list of
restricted trades there was as long as anywhere on the
estate. (ref. 149)
From an early date, however, besides two public
houses, there was also a builder's yard and workshops on
the north side at the corner with Avery Row. The ground
here was part of a large plot which had been leased,
together with No. 39 Brook Street, in 1723 to Thomas
Phillips, the well-known carpenter. (ref. 150) Phillips lived at No.
39 from 1723 until his death in 1736 and probably used the
extensive back premises for his business. He appears to
have been succeeded in this by his nephew John Phillips,
another master carpenter of note, (ref. 151) who was the rated
occupant of No. 39 Brook Street from 1741 to his death in
1775. The main building at the rear was evidently a
carpenters' workshop, measuring some 55 by 25 feet, its
long side to the mews being entirely lined with windows.
At the corner was a small office building which was two
rooms deep and had two storeys and a cellar, and elsewhere
there were a number of store rooms. (ref. 152)
John Phillips's executors sub-let the yard to John
Armstrong, a carpenter and builder. He was in possession
by 1790 (ref. 153) but may have been established there earlier, for
in 1799 he was stated to have made a number of additions
within the previous twelve years. These consisted mostly
of sheds for storing timber and a saw pit, but he may also
have built another storey over and otherwise altered the
workshop, which is described as two-storeyed in a plan of
1802. (ref. 154) In 1799 Armstrong entered into partnership with
Jeffry Wyatt (later Sir Jeffry Wyatville), who was shortly
afterwards to occupy and remodel No. 39 Brook Street (see
page 22). Armstrong died in 1803 but Wyatt continued
with the builder's business for several years, operating
partly from Avery Row and Brook's Mews but mainly
from other premises in Pimlico. (ref. 155) At some time during the
nineteenth century the buildings in Brook's Mews were
replaced by coach-houses and stables, (ref. 156) and these have in
turn been rebuilt again, one (No. 52) as a builder's
workshop (see below).<The architect John Butler listed 'Stables for 20 Horses and Coach Houses etc. etc. in Brooks Mews', 1865, among his works in his FRIBA nomination papaers, 1887.>
There was another workshop at No. 22. Here a tailor,
Louis Bazalgette, who occupied No. 22 Grosvenor Street
from 1784 to 1800, (ref. 157) had a two-storey workshop over the
coach-house and stables. It was lit principally from the
side where a large window overlooked a passage leading off
the mews which was shared with No. 21. Behind the
workshop were a counting-house and a 'shop', also entered
from the passage. (ref. 158) Both 'shop' and workshop communicated with the house in Grosvenor Street, which was
able to retain its domestic appearance (Plate 9b) because
the main access to the business premises was from the
mews. Part of the passage remains but the mews buildings
were rebuilt in 1898–9 at the same time as Nos. 21 and 22
Grosvenor Street.
There are few buildings of note left in Brook's Mews.
The south side is now dominated by modern office blocks
and the north side by the great bulk of Claridge's. To the
east of Claridge's the long rear elevation of the Bath Club
has a number of large projecting windows. The rear of the
main premises at Nos. 41 and 43 Brook Street was
largely rebuilt to the designs of Charles Gordon Smith in
1914–15, but a large bow window with small-paned sashes
behind No. 43 which lights the Club's main dining-room
was inserted in 1919 to the designs of Wimperis and
Simpson. The additional wing of the club behind No. 39
Brook Street was originally built in 1927 to the designs of
Michael Waterhouse as a three-storey mews house with
two projecting bay windows on the first floor. (ref. 159) No. 52
Brook's Mews, a three-storey red-brick and stone builder's
workshop which retains its projecting iron beam and lifting
gear, occupies part of the site of Armstrong and Wyatt's
workshop. It was built as late as 1915–16 for Jonathan
Andrews and Sons of Mount Street to the designs of the
firm's architect, Horace J. Helsdon, and is now occupied
by the building firm of George Smith of Avery Row. (ref. 160)