North Row
In the eighteenth century the north side of North Row was
almost entirely taken up with the stables and other
appendages of buildings in Oxford Street and Hereford
Street. On the south side a number of small houses were
built, and there were also several yards or passages with
workshops, stables or small dwellings grouped around
them: (fn. a) all have now been demolished. Most of North Row
is now lined with commercial buildings of relatively recent
date.
Nos. 12 and 14
Nos. 12 and 14 were built as stables and coach-houses
in 1898 by Bywaters to the designs of Sidney R. J. Smith (ref. 110)
(Plate 48b, 48d). No. 12 was for Lord Ribblesdale, who had
chosen the same builder and architect for the erection of
his new mansion at No. 32 Green Street, while No. 14 was
a speculative range of stabling. The buildings consist of
two storeys with additional rooms in the roof lit by
dormers which are set well back, Smith's restrained
elevations here being in red brick with stone dressings
including a dentilled cornice. In later years the upper
storey of No. 14 has been extended to the east, while the
ground floor of No. 12 has been converted into a wine bar.
North Row Dwellings
North Row Dwellings were erected in 1887–9 by the
St. George's Workmen's Model Dwellings Association to
the designs of Robert Henry Burden; the builders were
Higgs and Hill. (ref. 111) Burden had extensive experience with
large buildings of this nature, having designed many
workhouses and at least one block of artisans' dwellings,
Grosvenor Buildings in Grosvenor Mews (now Bourdon
Street). He gave to the main façade of North Row
Dwellings the character of a single composition of some
complexity (Plate 48d) which contrasts strongly with the
plainness of his earlier building in Bourdon Street. This
treatment may have been prescribed because the building
was overlooked by the backs of the expensive houses in
Hereford Gardens, the residents of which complained to
the Duke of Westminster about the proposed dwellings. (ref. 112)
As a result the overall height of the building was reduced,
but with a semi-basement and a tall attic storey Burden
was still able to provide five floors.
Nos. 31–33 (consec.)
Nos. 31–33 (consec.), a group of three narrow, gabled,
red-brick buildings, now with ground-floor shops or
showrooms, were erected in 1892–3 as stables with
dwellings above by Matthews, Rogers and Company to the
designs of the firm's architect, M. C. Hulbert. (ref. 113)
No. 34
No. 34 was built in 1891–2 to the designs of Eustace
Balfour and Thackeray Turner as a workshop for R. W.
Shipway, one of the proprietors of Hammond and
Company of Oxford Street, a firm of leather-breechesmakers. (ref. 114) The building is faced with red brick (now
painted over) and has brick headers to the windows with
moulded undersides (Plate 26c). The date 1891 in the
shaped gable is original but the small quatrefoils bearing
the initials R and S are later additions. The white paint
which now covers the surface unfortunately obscures an
attempt to invest a small industrial building with Arts and
Crafts detailing, but the building is still of some interest as
one of the few survivors of a type which was common in
this area of the estate during the nineteenth century. The
builders were Killby and Gayford. (ref. 115)
No. 35
No. 35 see page 110.
Other buildings on the north side of North Row with
their principal elevations to Oxford Street are described in
Chapter IX.