52-53 St Martin’s Lane

Summary

A terraced house, dating from the late 18th century; the building probably originally included a shop. Later alterations include the installation of a mid 20th century shopfront, and remodelling to create a ground-floor shop to the north. To the south, within the 18th century house, is the entranceway to a Quaker meeting house of 1954-1956 by Hubert Lidbetter; the meeting house to the rear of the 18th century house is excluded from the listing.

Reasons for Designation

52-53 St Martin’s Lane, City of Westminster, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the proportions and detailing of the late-C18 frontage survive well;
* the Georgian house retains internal features of note, including panelling, chimneypieces, and a stair arrangement which suggests the building incorporated a shop from the beginning.

Group value:

* with the late-C17 or early-C18 house at 31 St Martin’s Lane (listed at Grade II*, National Heritage List for England (NHLE) entry 1236021), and with number 62, a mid-C18 house (listed at Grade II, NHLE entry 1236048).

History

52-53 St Martin’s Lane was built in the late C18 as a substantial terraced house; the arrangement of the stairs, with one to the rear, rising from ground to first floor, and the main stair rising at the centre of the building from first-floor level suggests the presence of a ground-floor shop from the outset. In the mid-C20, a neoclassical shopfront was installed at ground-floor level, possibly in association with the rebuilding of the meeting house behind (see below). The house continues to have a commercial unit at ground-floor level. At first-floor level, the front part of the house is connected with the neighbouring property, 51 St Martins Lane (unlisted), to create a suite of offices. The remainder of the house is in domestic use, and has undergone numerous alterations, apparently including the loss of some plasterwork detail noted in the 1973 List entry.

In the southern part of the shopfront is an entrance to the Westminster Quaker Meeting House, the main part of which stands to the rear of 52-53 St Martin's Lane. The meeting house is approached via a passageway running through the southern part of the C18 house, entered from St Martin's Lane; there is a separate entrance to the meeting house in Hop Lane. An 1883 meeting house on the site was largely rebuilt in 1954-1955 following bomb damage; the main part of the present meeting house building is unlisted.

Details

Terraced house, dating from the later C18; the building probably originally included a shop. Later alterations include the installation of a mid-C20 shopfront, and remodelling to create a ground-floor shop to the north. To the south, within the C18 house, is the entranceway to a Quaker meeting house of 1954-1956 by Hubert Lidbetter; the meeting house to the rear of the C18 house is excluded from the listing.

MATERIALS: the house is constructed of London stock brick, laid in Flemish bond. The building has a flat roof terrace (in 2025), with stacks rising to either side. The window openings hold timber sash frames.

PLAN: the house occupies a roughly rectangular plot, extending eastwards from St Martin’s Lane, with a projection to the north-east. The entrance to the meeting house at the south end of the principal elevation of the building opens into a passage within the house which leads to the unlisted main part of the meeting house (outside the footprint of the Georgian house).

EXTERIOR: the St Martin’s Lane elevation consists of three bays arranged over four storeys. To the ground floor there is a mid-C20 neo-Georgian timber frontage, with pilasters framing the doorways, and a swagged frieze. A central doorway gives access to the upper levels of number 53; to the north is a later shopfront, and to the south is the entrance to the meeting house, which has a moulded granite surround. Above the doorway is a metal sign with raised Roman lettering reading ‘FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE’. The building has painted stucco or stone cill courses, and painted stucco or stone architraves to the first-floor windows. The window openings decrease in size with each storey, though each opening holds six-over-six sash frames. The elevation has a crowning cornice and blocking course; above this is the metal balustrade of the roof terrace. To the rear, the brickwork is laid in English bond, with cambered-arched window openings. There has been much rebuilding and alterations to openings to the the rear wing.

INTERIOR: the building includes a number of distinct interiors. The ground floor and basement to the north are in commercial use, with the passageway to the meeting house to the south; the majority of the house is in domestic use, and the western and south-western part of the first floor is in office use. These interiors are described separately below.

The majority of the ground floor and basement to the north has been modernised, without historic features remaining. However, brick vaults do survive beneath the southern part of the house, some now plastered. To the east is the lowest flight of the original rear stair, with stick balusters, moulded newel, plain skirting and matchboard panelling. A shallow area remains to the west, now lit by pavement lights. On the ground floor to the south, a wide vaulted passage leads to the unlisted meeting house.

The central entrance to number 53 leads to a narrow passageway passing through the main part of the building to the rear stair, the passage apparently adapted from an original route, with pilasters possibly marking the position of a former opening. The geometrical stair which rises to first-floor level has an open string and stick balusters, with a wreathed, ramped handrail and square-moulded starter-newel; the stairwell has dado-height panelling. The principal stair, rising from first to third floor at the centre of the building to the north is of open-well form, with similar detailing to the rear stair, though with a more pronounced volute; a glazed cupboard is incorporated at half-pace level between second and third floors. On the second floor, the front and south-east rooms have later timber chimneypieces with Adam-style detailing; these rooms have moulded cornices.

The western part of the first floor, now in office use, consists of a large room to the west, and a smaller room to the south-east, with a large opening between the two. Both rooms retain panelled window embrasures, with original shutters, tall skirtings, and drip cornices. Both rooms retain moulded timber chimneypieces; that in the western room has what appears to be an early-C19 register grate, whilst that in the south-east room has a late-C19 grate.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

426936

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Bradley, S, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England, London 6: Westminster, (2003), 361

Websites
Andrew Derrick ‘Friends Meeting House, Westminster’, Architectural History Practice, 2016, accessed 14 March 2023 from http://heritage.quaker.org.uk/files/Westminster%20LM.pdf
'St. Martin's Lane', in Survey of London: Volume 20, St Martin-in-The-Fields, Pt III: Trafalgar Square and Neighbourhood, ed. G H Gater, F R Hiorns (London, 1940), British History Online, accessed 12 September 2024 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol20/pt3/pp115-122

End of official list entry

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