Description

TQ 2980 SE CITY OF WESTMINSTER ST. JAMES'S SQUARE,
82/13 SWI
24.2.58 No. 5 (Wentworth
House)
G.V. II*
Terraced town mansion. 1748-49 by Mathew Brettingham the elder, refaced in
1854 by Messrs. Cubitt with extra storey. Portland stone with rusticated
ground floor, slate roof. Astylar facade, Italianate details very probably
reusing some of Brettingham's stone dressings. 4 storeys and basement. 5
windows wide. Central Roman Doric porch, subsequently enclosed, with
paired columns and full entablature with balustraded parapet. Square
headed recessed plate glass sashes to ground floor. 1st floor has sashes
in probably original architraves with carved consoles to pediments over.
Architraved windows to upper floors, those on 2nd floor with pulvinated
friezes and cornices. Pseudo-pedestal to 1st floor with again probably
original blind balustrading below windows; moulded 2nd floor sill band with
sills proper on fluted brackets and sill band to 3rd floor; bold crowning
modillion cornice and balustraded parapet. Cast iron area railings with
spear heads and urn finials probably mid C.18. Rear elevation of yellow
stocks unaltered, 7 windows wide with 3-window centre break having a
central architraved and pedimented doorway and the outer bays on 1st floor
taken up by Doric pilastered plain Venetian windows; parapet with coping.
Brettingham's interior is largely intact and the double pile plan of 3
compartments north and south extends along side of No. 4; central hall with
archway to east staircase compartment, flanked by the service stair, the
main staircase of stone with Doric column balusters with swept handrail
rises to 1st floor only and is top lit, the upper part of walls with
plasterwork panelling in the Palladian idiom overlaid with Rococo ornament,
medallion, swag and festoon mouldings at 2nd floor level, rich main cornice
and cove to ceiling with rectangular light in unusual guilloche moulded
frame; restrained Palladian decoration to ground floor rooms with a number
of original marble chimneypieces, the 1st floor suite of state rooms in a
richer but similar vein except for the addition of elaborate mid C.19
French Rococo plasterwork to the ceilings and upper part of the walls in
the front rooms, etc.
Survey of London; Vol. XXIX.

Listing NGR: TQ2952180446

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wentworth House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17550355

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6