Decorating Earls Court Square

Earls Court Square was developed between 1872 and 1880 on land that had formerly been part of the market gardens and nurseries that characterised this area of west London before the coming of the Metropolitan District Railway in 1871. The extension of the underground railway to Earls Court transformed the area from a semi-rural periphery into a desirable residential suburb, and speculative builders rapidly covered the former gardens with terraces of substantial houses designed for the upper-middle classes. The square was laid out by the builders C. A. Long and John Spicer, who commissioned designs from local architectural practices working in the prevailing Italianate style that had become the standard idiom for speculative housing in west London. The houses were ambitious in scale, typically rising four to five storeys over basements, with generously proportioned reception rooms and elaborate entrance halls. The central garden, enclosed by iron railings and planted with mature London plane trees, provided the communal amenity that distinguished a 'square' from a mere street and justified the premium rents that the developers sought. During the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, the square attracted a cosmopolitan population, including artists, writers, and continental Europeans who gave the area its distinctive bohemian character. The area's proximity to the Earls Court Exhibition Centre (opened 1887) brought additional prestige and commercial activity. During the twentieth century, many houses were converted to hotels, boarding houses, and bedsits, a decline that accelerated after the Second World War. However, since the 1990s, the square has undergone significant gentrification, with many houses restored to single-family use or converted to high-quality apartments. The Earls Court Conservation Area designation provides protection for the square's Victorian character.

The decoration of Earls Court Square demands an understanding of the particular conservation challenges presented by Victorian hybrid construction — stucco below, brick above. The stuccoed ground and first floors require a breathable coating system compatible with the lime-cement render: Keim mineral silicate paint provides the optimal combination of vapour permeability, UV stability, and colour retention. The stucco colour should reference the original Victorian palette, which typically comprised Portland stone cream or warm grey tones rather than the brilliant white that became fashionable in the mid-twentieth century. Where the stucco has been repaired with hard Portland cement — a common legacy of post-war maintenance — these patches must be identified and, ideally, replaced with compatible lime-cement mortar before painting, as the differential porosity of lime and cement substrates causes uneven paint absorption and visible patchiness. The exposed brickwork of the upper floors should never be painted; where previous inappropriate painting has occurred, careful removal using steam or alkaline paint strippers is recommended, followed by lime-putty repointing of any disturbed joints. The Victorian ironwork presents particular challenges: the elaborate foliate castings of the area railings and balcony panels trap rust in their recesses, requiring thorough hand preparation using small wire brushes and dental picks to remove all loose corrosion before priming with zinc-phosphate primer and finishing with alkyd gloss in black. Bay windows, a prominent feature of the square's facades, require careful attention at the junction between the timber frame and the masonry opening, where differential thermal movement creates gaps that must be sealed with linseed oil putty rather than modern silicone sealants. The timber sash windows should be maintained using a full linseed oil paint system, with particular attention to the bottom rails and sill junctions where water accumulation accelerates decay.