Wood's Mews
Wood's Mews was doubtless named after Jonathan Wood,
victualler, who was the first occupant of the Swan tavern in
Park Street at the north corner of the mews. (ref. 137) The south
side of the mews was occupied by the stables and coachhouses of houses in Upper Brook Street, but most of the
frontage on the north side was taken up with the extensive
complex of stabling which was built by Roger Morris for
the Second Troop of Horse Guards and later converted
into a rhedarium (see page 185). Some of the stabling on
this side was rebuilt during the nineteenth century and the
remainder was demolished in 1913–14 for the creation of
the Green Street garden, the southern boundary wall of
which extends part way along the north side of the mews.
Nos. 1 and 1A
Nos. 1 and 1A, although largely rebuilt in recent years,
still contain vestiges of the red-brick stable, coach-house
and dwelling built in 1887–8 for Robert Wellesley
Grosvenor (later 2nd Baron Ebury), who was then living
nearby at the present No. 117 Park Lane. The builders'
department of the Army and Navy Auxiliary Co-operative
Supply Company were the contractors. (ref. 138)
Nos. 3 and 5
Nos. 3 and 5 are now joined together but consist of two
buildings of different date. The eastern part (No. 5), which
is picturesquely arranged around a small inner courtyard
and decked out with a gable containing a clock, a turret
with a weather vane, pediments and finials, was built as
stabling for Lord Tweedmouth of Brook House in 1886–7
by Holland and Hannen to the designs of J. T. Wimperis. (ref. 139) In 1967–70 No. 3 was erected in a modest neoGeorgian style to the designs of Robert Sharp and Son on a
site which had been cleared during the war of 1939–45 and
was united with No. 5 to provide dwellings for the Rootes
family. (ref. 140) <Alfred Burr, architect, included 'New stables, Woods Mews', 1886-7, in his list of works 1888.>
No. 4
No. 4, although numbered in Wood's Mews, was built
as a three-storey back addition to No. 26 Upper Brook
Street when that house was rebuilt in 1908–9 to the designs
of Arnold Mitchell for J. Monro Coats (see page 210 and
fig. 48).
No. 6
No. 6, now converted into offices, was built in red brick
as a 'Motor House' with two storeys of residential
accommodation above as part of No. 25 Upper Brook
Street when that house was rebuilt in 1907–8 to the designs
of R. G. Hammond (see page 208).
No. 8
No. 8, an odd, tripartite structure with two narrow outer
bays carried up to a third storey on each side of a
pedimented dormer window, was built in 1906–7 by
Holland and Hannen to the designs of R. S. Wornum to
provide servants' offices and a large room for displaying
furniture and other objects from the collection of Sydney
Ernest Kennedy, the occupant of No. 24 Upper Brook
Street (ref. 141) (Plate 53b). It has since been much altered by
conversion into a garage with a flat above. (ref. 142)
No. 10
No. 10, of two storeys and an attic with painted
brickwork, was originally the stabling of No. 23 Upper
Brook Street. Its present appearance dates largely from
1912 when the stables were converted into a garage. In
1926–7 it was separated from the house and the upper part
is now used as offices. (ref. 143)
Nos. 12–16 (even)
Nos. 12–16 (even), a prefabricated structure in a
'1930's modern' idiom, was built by the Ministry of Works
during the war of 1939–45 as offices and laboratories to
take the place of three mews buildings which were severely
damaged by bombing. (ref. 144)
No. 18
No. 18, a converted coach-house and stable with two tall
storeys and an attic, was at least in part rebuilt in 1886 and
again largely reconstructed internally after suffering
damage during the war of 1939–45. It now consists of
maisonettes with garage space underneath. (ref. 145)
No. 20
No. 20 was rebuilt in 1914–17 to the designs of Ralph
Knott and E. Stone Collins as part of the rebuilding of No.
18 Upper Brook Street. (ref. 146) It is now an unremarkable
building of two storeys and an attic.
No. 22
No. 22 was built in 1907–8 as stabling for No. 17 Upper
Brook Street, then being rebuilt by John Garlick to designs
by Wimperis and Best. (ref. 147) It has since been greatly altered
by the addition of large windows and a rough-cast facing.
No. 79A Park Street
No. 79A Park Street, although having an address in
Park Street, stands on the south side of Wood's Mews and
is numbered 24 Wood's Mews on the Ordnance Survey
map. It is a small, red-brick house of two storeys and an
attic with a splayed corner from which the entrance
projects. It was built as offices in 1913, probably to the
designs of Wimperis and Simpson, by the building firm of
John Morris and Company which had been displaced from
its former premises in Park Street to the north of Wood's
Mews. The firm remained here until 1928. (ref. 35)