Decorating St James's Square

St James's Square was conceived by Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, who secured a grant from Charles II in 1662 to develop the fields north of St James's Palace into a fashionable residential quarter. The square was laid out by 1665, making it one of the earliest formal squares in London, predating even Bloomsbury Square. Jermyn's intention was to attract the highest echelons of the aristocracy, and by the 1670s the square's residents included dukes, earls, and bishops. The original houses were timber-framed structures clad in brick, reflecting building practices that would be swept away by the Building Acts following the Great Fire. Throughout the eighteenth century, many original houses were rebuilt in the fashionable Palladian and later neo-classical styles. Robert Adam redesigned number 20 (Wynn House) in the 1770s, introducing his characteristically refined interior decoration. Number 15, designed by James 'Athenian' Stuart in 1764, is considered one of the earliest examples of Greek Revival architecture in England. The square served as the headquarters of General Eisenhower during the planning of D-Day in 1944, a fact commemorated by a plaque on the building. The Norfolk House at number 31 was demolished in 1938, but several eighteenth-century houses survive substantially intact. The Libyan People's Bureau siege of 1984, during which WPC Yvonne Fletcher was killed, brought the square to international attention. Today the square is managed by a committee of freeholders and leaseholders who maintain the central garden, designed by John Nash in the 1820s with mature London plane trees providing a verdant canopy.

Decorating the facades of St James's Square requires strict adherence to conservation principles appropriate to their listing grades. The stuccoed elevations demand Keim Granital or equivalent mineral silicate coatings that chemically bond with the lime substrate, offering a service life exceeding 25 years without the flaking and blistering associated with modern film-forming paints. Colour selection must reference the Crown Estate's palette guidance, which typically specifies variations of Portland stone cream and off-white tones. For exposed brickwork, any repointing must utilise a lime-putty mortar gauged to match the original in aggregate size, colour, and compressive strength — typically no harder than NHL 2.0 to avoid stress concentrations that would spall the historic bricks. Timber sash windows require a full linseed oil system: raw linseed oil applied as a penetrating primer, followed by linseed-based undercoat and gloss topcoat. This system remains microporous and avoids the moisture-trapping characteristics of modern alkyd or acrylic formulations. The wrought-iron railings necessitate careful de-rusting to SSPC-SP3 standard using hand tools rather than abrasive blasting, which would remove the original fire-scale that provides the iron's primary corrosion protection. A red-oxide primer followed by micaceous iron oxide intermediate and alkyd gloss finish provides a durable protective system. Portland stone elements should be cleaned only by nebulous water spray or poultice methods; acidic cleaners must never be used as they dissolve the calcium carbonate matrix of the stone.