This house was not in existence on 20th November, 1777, as the lease of No. 7, Bedford Square, granted on that date,[[716]] mentions as the southern boundary “ground contracted to be built upon.” It first appears in the parish ratebooks in 1781.
IRON STAIR BALUSTERS
The house is centrally placed on the east side, and is the largest in the square (Plate 69). It is now in two occupations, each being given a separate entrance. The hall has been divided and a few of the earlier openings closed, but otherwise the premises are, on the whole, as originally erected.
An important feature is the hall containing a staircase to the first floor, constructed of stone, with a balustrade of wrought iron formed with pairs of simple bars alternating with an ornamental baluster. There is an enriched cornice and ceiling below the first floor landing and this level is marked on the wall of the hall by a beautiful band of ornament (illustrated on the next page). The side walls above this level are enriched with plaster mouldings. The end walls are semi-circular in plan. The ceiling at the second floor level is an exceptionally good example of design in plaster (Plate 70), composed of two decorated and fluted semi-domes over the end walls, supporting pendentives which carry a circular cornice, from which springs a domical lantern. The front room on the ground floor has a white marble inlay chimneypiece. The front room on the first floor to the south has a much damaged painted ceiling, and a fine marble chimneypiece (Plate 71) with Ionic columns and sculptured panel in the frieze.
The long room to the front on the same floor in No. 6A has a segmental ceiling similar to that in No. 10 (Plate 74), but is not decorated. There are two ornamental plaques in the frieze of the end walls, and the eastern back room on the second floor contains a white marble chimneypiece with sculptured figure and festoons.
Condition of repair.
The premises are in good repair.