Description

TQ 2980 SW CITY OF WESTMINSTER ARLINGTON STREET, SW1
81/9
No 16 (part of Royal Overseas
24.2.58 League)

GV I

the list entry and description shall be replaced by the following two entries:

TQ 2980 SW CITY OF WESTMINSTER PARK PLACE, SW1

1900-/81/9 No 6 (the Royal Overseas
league - including Rutland
24.2.58 House and its former gatehouse,
no. 16 Arlington Street, and
Vernon House to the south)
(formerly listed as no. 16
Arlington Street)

GV I

Club building formed from Rutland House, 1735-6, designed by
James Gibbs, and Vernon House, late C17/early C18,
substantially rebuilt 1835 and in 1904 following a fire. 1937
extensions to the east, former principle fronts of Rutland
House. The former gatehouse to Rutland House, no. 16 Arlington
Street, is also included in this listing.
The only exterior wall of Rutland House now faces Queen's
Walk, Green Park and was the original rear elevation; it is
appropriately plain, constructed from red brick with a slate
roof and having a 4-window range; three storeys over high
basement; fourth storey added. Flat-arched windows with gauged
brick lintels; sashes rebuilt to an authentic, C18 design;
storey bands and cast-iron balustrade to first floor on shaped
stone brackets. The original facade obscured by tawny brick
extension to east of 1937, whick links up with the gatehouse
of the 1730s. The elevation of this gatehouse faces Arlington
Street: brown brick, partly roofed by slated mansard; 2-window
range to left and large, rusticated carriageway arch to right;
panelled, wooden double doors with hinges of an original
design; sashes of an original design; stone entablature below
parapet and first-floor storey band. The idea of entering a
city mansion through a separate gatehouse was unusual at the
time, and set a precedent for later buildings; several in
Arlington Street adopted this feature.
Interior of Rutland House mostly intact on ground and first
floors, where many outstanding original features survive,
including: grand stone staircase with one of the earliest
wrought-iron balustrades in the country, the whole topped by a
glazed domed lantern; Ionic colonnade; several chimney pieces
of early to mid C18 date, chief among them the large marble
fireplace in the Rutland Room designed by John Rysbrack
(1694-1770); to rear of main stair an unusual 'Crinoline
stair', its balusters bowed to make room for women in hoop
dresses. History: Built as the home for the Duchess of Norfolk
(ob. 1754). The current name derives from 1816, when John, the
Fifth Duke of Rutland, came into ownership of the house. Sold
to the Royal Overseas League in 1934 by the Eighth Duchess of
Rutland, following the death of the Eighth Duke. It was at
this time that the chief entrance was moved from Arlington
Street to Park Place, through Vernon House.
Vernon House, to the east. c1835, on the site of a late C17/
early C18 house named after the family who owned it from c1700
to the early C19. It was extensively rebuilt after a fire in
1902; the early C19 brick can still be glimpsed in the top
floor, above the Portland stone facing to Queen's Walk; some
early C19 construction mingled with later brick and Portland
Stone to courtyard facing Park Place. Elevation to Park Place:
Two bays, with three-window range; pair of windows to left
grouped within quoin strips; right-hand range with Palladian
window set in rusticated aedicule with bowed porch to centre
opening; ashlared and rusticated ground floor, with entrance
under Ionic aedicule and a pair of round-arched window to
right; parapet band to first-floor windows; cartouche between
first and second floors; all openings unless otherwise noted
above are flat arched with architraves; modillioned cornice to
top floor; three dormers to slate mansard roof; stack to south
wall. Elevation to Green Park: faced in Portland stone to
second floor with original brick above; two-window range, that
to right treated as three-storey segmental bay with tripartite
windows; first-floor balcony on stone brackets, enclosed by
cast-iron railings of an original design; cast-iron railing to
French door on first-floor of bay; cast-iron balcony and stair
from ground-floor to garden level; swags to ground-floor
entablature band; chamfered rustication to basement.
Interior of Vernon House: Open well stair to main entrance,
wood balustrade and panelling; lobby with moulded panels and
cornice to right; steps up at party wall to Rutland House. The
rooms to the bay on the south were once oval in plan; their
east end of which now taken up with a lift shaft, but the west
end with original fireplaces and mouldings; of particular note
is the first-floor director's office, with wall panelling in
Rococo Revival style and polished marble chimneypiece. Also of
note is the ground-floor Brabourne Room, or the Buttery, with
Ionic screen at east end, and finely moulded cornice, walls,
and chimney piece. The Mountbatten and Willingdon Drawing
Rooms on the first floor decorated in a Regency Revival style.
Vernon House was purchased by the League from Lady Hillingdon
in 1921.
Also included are the stone gate piers, wood double doors,
attached railings and light fixtures to courtyard entered from
Park Place.

------------------------------------

TQ 2980 SW CITY OF WESTMINSTER ARLINGTON STREET, SW1
81/9
24.2.58 No 16 (Part of Royal
Overseas League)

GV I

Town mansion, 1736 by James Gibbs, with C19 and early C20 alterations
and extensions. West elevation to Green Park: red brick, slate roof.
4 storeys with basement at Park level and dormered attic. 4 windows
wide. Revealed sash windows, no glazing bars, under flat gauged
arches. Double plat band to ground floor; stone balcony on shaped
brackets with cast iron balustrade across 1st floor, cornice over
2nd floor and stone band below-parapet. The house was extended east
towards Arlington Street in 1937 with a utilitarian yellow brick
range linking up with the 1730s coach house of brown brick with a
slate roof, which presents a 2 bay facade to Arlington Street and
a large rusticated carriage archway to the right with wooden double
panelled doors; revealed glazing bar sash windows on both floors to
left. Stone entablature below parapet and 1st floor plat band.
The interior of the mansion retains numerous fine features including
a grand stone staircase, the glazed dome compartment screened on
ground floor by Ionic columns, the stairs with fine wrought iron
balustrade, doorcases, chimneypieces etc of c. 1740 in a number of
rooms etc.

Listing NGR: TQ2917480254

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q96465344

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.

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  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
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