Summary
Restaurant with offices above, designed 1955 and built 1961-3 by Sir Albert Richardson of Richardson and Houfe, refurbished and extended 2007 by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands.
Reasons for Designation
Clareville House, designed in 1955 by Sir Albert Richardson and built in 1961-3, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a refined neo-Regency exterior by a leading mid-C20 architect, indicative of the best in post-war traditionalist design.
History
The building now known as Clareville House was designed by the firm of Richardson and Houfe as early as 1955, although construction did not take place until 1961-3. The client was Stone's Chop House, a venerable London eating-house established in Panton Street in the 1770s; the chop house occupied the ground and first floors of the new building, with offices on the three upper floors. Sir Albert Richardson (1880-1964), was a leading traditionalist architect of the inter- and post-war years, and the author of a number of books including two on the history of the English inn. Stone's remained on the site until its closure in 1981. In 2007 the building underwent comprehensive renovation by the architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands.
Details
MATERIALS: faced in stock brick with Portland stone to ground and first floors and attic. Dark-stained timber sash and casement windows. Metal trellis-work to Panton Street balcony. Copper-clad roof.
PLAN: the building occupies a rectangular island site, enclosed by Panton Street to the south, Whitcomb and Oxenden streets to east and west, and the narrow Whitcomb Court to the north. It is of four storeys plus attic and two basement levels (the sub-basement is a recent excavation). The ground and first floors - originally occupied by Stone's Chop House - run the full depth of the plot, while the upper floors are wrapped around a central light-well.
In the 2007 works, a new lift and stair core was built to the north, linking the outer arms of the original U-plan; the earlier stairs were removed, and a new staircase was inserted in the south-west part of the building. These additions are not of special interest.
EXTERIOR: the building's special interest chiefly resides in the street-facing elevations, which are in a stripped-down neo-Regency style, with stone facing to the ground floor and plain stone window architraves to the floor above. The principal facade is to Panton Street, of nine bays with a slightly projecting five-bay centrepiece. Canted corner bays connect to the shorter seven-bay side ranges to Oxendon Street and Whitcomb Street, the latter having a further canted bay at its north end and a short three-bay return to Whitcomb Court (the rest of this range was rebuilt in 2007). The ground floor has large 16-paned windows set in deep reveals, while those on the upper floors are pairs of side-hung three-light casements.
The five-bay centrepiece to Panton Street is given a distinctive treatment: the ground-floor windows and doorways are framed by slender metal columns, and those on the first floor are tripled and set back behind a shallow canopied loggia with metal columns, balustrade and trellis-work. In the corner bays are windows (which replaced the original doorways during the 2007 refurbishment) surmounted by blind architraves framing big stone urns. There are further doorways on the side ranges (some inserted in 2007 within pre-existing openings), and a vehicle bay at the north end of the Whitcomb Street range; in the equivalent position on the Oxendon Street side, two window bays have been removed to create a glazed entrance foyer to the offices. The fourth floor is crowned by a fluted frieze with paterae and a projecting cornice. Above this is a stone-faced attic storey with paired pilasters and a copper-clad mansard roof. The roof was re-clad, and its pitch lowered, in 2007.
The courtyard elevations are of lesser interest, being plain and utilitarian, with large window openings beneath concrete lintels. The side ranges here have narrow terraces at fifth-floor level. The rebuilt north range is dominated on the courtyard side by a very tall glazed double lift-shaft.
INTERIORS: these have been comprehensively altered at all levels, and no internal features of interest are known to survive.
