St James's Square

St James Square is the only square in the exclusive St James's district of the City of Westminster. It has predominantly Georgian and neo-Georgian architecture and a private garden in the centre. For its first two hundred or so years it was one of the three or four most fashionable residential address in London, and it is now home to the headquarters Transnational corporations, including BP and Rio Tinto Group, as well as some exclusive clubs and the London Library.

Addresses

The numbering starts with Number 1 to the north of Charles Street on the eastern side of the square and proceeds anti-clockwise as far as Number 21. The Army and Navy Club's clubhouse occupies the former sites of Number 22, a smaller adjacent house which may have had a George Street number, and several former houses in Pall Mall. Norfolk House at the southern end of the square is Number 31, and the two houses to its north are Numbers 32 and 33. A small house in the angle of the square south of Norfolk House, originally numbered in John Street, and the adjacent house in Pall Mall, have been combined and allocated the number 31A.

The smaller houses along the southern side had Pall Mall numbers until 1884. This block is now occupied by a mixture of 19th and 20th century buildings which are fully built up to the pavements on both sides. Some of them have their main entrance in Pall Mall and others in the square, and there are two separate sets of numbers for them. The numbers in the square range from 22A to 30, with some omissions.

• No. 1: BP head office. Also occupies the site of the former No. 2 and several demolished houses in Charles Street. It is a post-modern building dating from c.2000 which defers to the Georgian style of the street. It was built to be Ericsson's London office and was sold to BP for £117 million in 2001.
• No. 3: The original house had many owners and tenants, including the holders of at least three separate dukedoms, and was worked on by various architects including John Soane. The present building is a 1930s office block. Postcode: SW1Y 4JU Breezevale Services Export & Import Agents (Head Office); The Laird Group Holding Companies (Office & Administration); Matlin Patterson Advisers Financial Services (Office & Administration)
• No. 4: The Naval & Military Club in a Georgian house of 1726-28 by Edward Shepherd. Former home of Nancy Astor.
• No. 5: Present house by Matthew Brettingham 1748–9. Refronted in stone, porch added, and attic converted into a full storey in 1854. Now offices; former Libyan embassy, site of the 1984 Libyan Embassy Siege.
• No. 6: Rio Tinto Group head office. Modern.
• No. 7: Neo Georgian, architect Edwin Lutyens, 1911. Postcode SW1Y 4JU Slater Maidment Accountants (Office & Administration)
• No. 8: Neo Georgian, architects Robert Angell and Curtis, 1939. Postcode: SW1Y 4JU The Decca Music Group Recording Studios (Shops & other Retail Outlets)
• Nos. 9 to 11: Numbers 9, 10 and 11 were built in the 1730s on the site of the former Ormonde House, once the largest house in the square. Henry Flitcroft supervised number 10 and probably also numbers 9 and 11. No. 10 is Chatham House, former home of British Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder and of the Earl and Countess of Blessington.
• 10 SW1Y 4LE Royal Institute Of International Affairs Research Organisations (Head Office)
• 11 SW1Y 4LB Aepl Publishers (Office & Administration)
• 11-12Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust Charities & Voluntary Organisations (Office & Administration); Gowl & Partners Employment & Recruitment Agencies (Office & Administration); GWST Employment & Recruitment Agencies (Head Office); Red Zebrano Interior Designers & Furnishers (Head Office)
• No. 12: Built 1836, probably by Thomas Cubitt. Former home of Augusta Lovelace. Postcode: SW1Y 4RB Talent Management International Business & Management Consultants (Office & Administration); Athena Intercultural Services Business & Management Consultants (Head Office); Box 89 Corporate Investigation Services Detective Agencies (Head Office); Winchester Capital Business & Management Consultants (Office & Administration); The Mortgage Times Mortgage Brokers (Office & Administration) ; Jackson Taylor Employment & Recruitment Agencies (Office & Administration); Management Selection Consultants Employment & Recruitment Agencies (Office & Administration); Shopping Centre Solutions Market Research (Office & Administration); Talisman Retail Employment & Recruitment Agencies (Head Office)
• No. 13: Built 1735-1737, possibly by Matthew Brettingham.
• No. 14: Occupied by the London Library since 1845, rebuilt for them 1896-98 and subsequently extended to the rear.
• No. 15: By James Stuart, 1764–6. Balcony added circa 1791 by Samuel Wyatt. Now offices.
• No. 16 and site of former No. 17: East India Club, built in 1865 to designs by Charles Lee.
• No. 18: Italianate reconstruction of 1846. Now apartments.
• No. 19: The London home of the Dukes of Cleveland and family from 1720 to 1894. A replacement building of 1898-99 used variously as offices and residentially was replaced by the present stone-clad offices in 1999-2000. Rolex Watch Clocks & Watches - Sales & Repair (Workshop & Repair Centres)
• No. 20/21: Robert Adam's reconstruction of No. 20 for Sir Watkin Williams Wynn from 1771-75 is one of the most praised of his smaller works. The house was three bays wide and had three main storeys plus an attic. In 1936 it was extended to include the rebuilt No. 21 to its south, forming a uniform seven bay facade with an extra full storey on top. Postcode SW1Y 4HB J O Hambro Investment Management Investment Companies (Head Office)
• (Former) No. 22 and adjacent buildings: replaced by the Army and Navy Club 1848–51.
• Nos. 22A to 30: The now defunct Junior Carlton Club once occupied a grand clubhouse at the western end of the block.
• 22A SW1Y 4JH M A B Property Developers (Head Office)
• 28 SW1Y 4JH Alegro Capital Financial Services (Office & Administration)
• 28-29 SW1Y 4JH Grimaldi Agencies Shipping Companies (Office & Administration)
• 30 SW1Y 4AL Altium Capital Financial Services (Office & Administration)
• No. 31: "Norfolk House" - the London residence of the Dukes of Norfolk for many generations. Replaced between the wars with a neo-Georgian office building of the same name which was General Eisenhower's headquarters during World War II, where Operation Torch and Operation Overlord were planned. Pantheon Ventures Financial Services (Head Office)
• 31a Business Logic Systems Telecommunications Equipment & Systems (Head Office)
• No. 32: Built by Samuel Pepys and Charles Robert Cockerell in 1819–21.
• No. 33: By Robert Adam (1770-72) replacing an earlier house. It is owned by Executive Offices Group (in turn owned by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund) and is a 'serviced' office rented out to businesses looking for a prestigious address. Postcode: SW1Y 4JS Tenants include: Strategic Communication Laboratories, Bioss International, Europa Partners Limited, Borders & Southern Petroleum plc, Red Zebrano; 3d Consulting Financial Services (Office & Administration); Athenaeum Capital LLP Fund Raising Services (Office & Administration); Banking Code Standard Board Banks & Other Financial Institutions (Head Office); Byron Advisors Financial Advisers- Independent (Office & Administration); Capitis Partners Employment & Recruitment Agencies (Office & Administration) Unit 1 .4; Dr Taher Mahmud Doctors (Hospitals & Medical Establishments); Tim Pendry Public Relations Consultants (Head Office); The St James's Partnership Banks & Other Financial Institutions (Office & Administration); Myswift.co.uk Nursing Agencies (Hospitals & Medical Establishments); S T C P Search Employment & Recruitment Agencies (Office & Administration); The Directorship Search Group Employment & Recruitment Agencies (Office & Administration); For Securities Investment Consultants (Head Office)