Plate I · Exterior · Southern terrace from the gardens
AVH · IMG · 018
Belgravia, London SW1.
A Grade I listed townhouse on the southern terrace of Eaton Square, restored across a seven-year programme by the present owners. Six floors, original Cubitt fenestration retained, mews to rear with three-car garaging and a self-contained two-bedroom apartment.
Provenance
1828
The southern terrace of Eaton Square is constructed under the development of the Grosvenor family, with Thomas Cubitt as principal contractor. The southern terrace is the second of the four terraces around the garden square to be completed; the present house is among the first dozen completed on the terrace.
Construction of the present house is completed. The first owner is recorded as Sir Hugh Pelham, a barrister of the Inner Temple. The house remains in the Pelham family for sixty-eight years.
The house passes through three further private ownerships across fifty-one years. During the Second World War, the house is requisitioned briefly by the Free Polish forces; it is returned to private ownership in 1947, requiring substantial structural reinstatement.
The house is acquired by the Belgian industrialist Henri Vandenberghe, whose family retains ownership for sixty-two years. The Vandenberghes commission limited restoration work — primarily the principal staircase and the second-floor reception rooms — but otherwise leave the house's structure untouched.
The present owners acquire the house from the Vandenberghe estate. They commission a full restoration programme working with a Grade I listed buildings consultant, the architecture practice of Nash & Llewelyn-Bowen, and a heritage joinery workshop in Suffolk. The restoration is approved in stages by Westminster City Council's heritage officers.
Restoration completes. The house's original Cubitt fenestration, parquet, and principal-staircase joinery are intact; the principal services (heating, electrical, plumbing) have been wholly replaced with conservation-grade installations. Historic England issue a renewed condition certificate at the close of works.
The house occupies the third bay west of the central pavilion on the southern terrace of Eaton Square. The terrace is the longest unbroken Cubitt run in central London. The house's principal facade is forty-eight feet across; the entrance is at street level via the original portico, with the formal reception rooms on the first floor — the piano nobile, in the language of the period.
The principal floors are: a lower-ground entertaining suite with the original kitchen-and-staff configuration converted to a single open garden room; a ground floor with the entrance hall, library, and morning room; a first floor (the piano nobile) with the formal drawing room and dining room enfilade; a second floor with the principal bedroom suite; a third floor with three further bedrooms; and an attic level with two staff bedrooms and the cistern room. The second-floor principal suite faces south onto the garden; the formal rooms face north onto the square.
The house has been restored, not refurbished. The distinction is operative. The Cubitt fenestration, the original parquet, the principal staircase joinery, and the marble fireplaces are all original to 1828 — repaired where required, replaced where structurally necessary, but never substituted with reproductions. The mechanical services (heating, electrical, plumbing, ventilation) have been wholly replaced; the result is a house that looks as it did in 1828 and operates as a house in 2026 should.
The house suits a buyer who understands what a Grade I listed property is and what it requires. It is not a house that can be modified extensively; the listing protects every visible architectural element. The buyer who is right for this house is one who arrives wanting it to remain what it is.
Plates II–IV · Interior · On view by appointment
The walled garden runs to the rear of the lower-ground floor, accessed directly from the garden room. It is approximately 240 square meters, oriented south-west, and protected on three sides by walls of original 1828 stock-brick — repointed during the restoration but unrebuilt.
The garden was redesigned by the present owners in collaboration with the landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, in 2021. The planting is a soft mixed-border scheme in the English tradition, with a single mature plane tree retained from the previous century. The garden is at its most beautiful in May and September.
Access to the central Eaton Square gardens — the locked communal garden in the centre of the square — is included by virtue of the property's address. A keyholder roster is maintained by the Eaton Square Garden Committee.
The mews cottage at the rear of the property is original to the development of the terrace. It occupies the small courtyard accessed via the south-east corner of the garden, with separate vehicular access from the mews-row to the south.
The mews building has three components: ground-floor garaging for three cars (formerly the carriage-house and stable), a self-contained first-floor flat of approximately 95 square metres (two bedrooms, one reception, one kitchen, one bathroom), and an attic-level staff bedroom with its own bathroom.
The mews flat is currently let on a private arrangement to the owner's family staff and is included in the sale. The lease is short-term and may be terminated or transferred on completion. The configuration is also suitable as a separate guest house, an adult-child residence, or a private staff suite.
Viewings of AVH·LON·0418 are by appointment only. The house is not open to general agents. Viewings are conducted by Helena Ashcombe or, where Helena is unavailable, by the senior associate familiar with the property. We do not conduct viewings during the present owners' residence; viewings are scheduled for periods when the house is available for the visit.
Inquiries are reviewed personally by Helena. We respond in writing within five working days, with — where the inquiry is qualified — an introduction to the present owners' representatives and a proposed first-viewing date. We do not disclose the guide on the public page; the guide is given on application.
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