Green Street Area: Wood's Mews

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. (fn. 1) 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. (fn. 2)

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. (fn. 3) 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. (fn. 4) (fn. c1)

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 (fn. 5) (Plate 53b). It has since been much altered by conversion into a garage with a flat above. (fn. 6)

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. (fn. 7)

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. (fn. 8)

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. (fn. 9)

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. (fn. 10) 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. (fn. 11) 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. (fn. 12)