GREEN STREET AND HOW IT GREW
Green Street was a later-starter in Mayfair. The Grosvenor planners, led by Sir Richard Grosvenor, did not include it as a finished, planned street in their first plat map, one dated 1723. A later chart dated 1725 shows a street unfinished at the Park Lane end. It apparently ran from North Audley to Park Street. It is labeled “Green St.” and contemporary accounts confirm that it was named for a prominent builder, James Green. He and three other prosperous developer/builders, Robert Anderson, Thomas Barlow, and Roger Morris, acquired leaseholds on both sides.
James Green built a house on the southwest corner of Audley Street and Green Street (where NatWest Bank is today) and lived there until his untimely, and somewhat mysterious death in 1737. He apparently fell (or was pushed) down a well he had built at a house he constructed in Upper Grosvenor Street. As indicated, contemporary writers were divided on whether foul play was involved, noting an acrimonious dispute with the owner of the house.
Green’s executors sold his various assets, recording in the process that Green had done well as a builder and left a small fortune in Mayfair leases. The leases he had on Green Street were purchased by other builders, including Roger Morris and Benjamin Timbrell, someone whose name we will see later in this paper.
The four developers built steadily westward along the new street from the Audley end. They especially favored the south side which backed up to Upper Brook St. mews. Most houses were two stories with stables in the rear, opening on Lees Mews, now Lees Place. On the south side of the street Roger Morris had purchased the leasehold on the late James Green’s house at the corner of South Audley and Green Streets. In 1738 Morris demolished Green’s modest house and built a home as large as those being erected then in Grosvenor Square. It survives today as No. 61 Green Street, next to the bank and occupied by BSI, the British Standards Institution. The home Roger Morris built is the only one on our block with a rear garden. Its interior finish retains many Georgian details, and the building is now undergoing extensive redecorating.
Morris lived in Green Street until his death in 1749. The house, No. 61, then was sold to the third Earl of Hyndford. Since then it has seen a steady succession of titled and notable occupants, including Sir William Trevor (1st Baron Trevor); his son and grandson, the 2nd and 3rd Barons; the Earl of Kinnoull; the fourth Baron Dinevor; the Duke of Abercorn, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; and the fifth Duke of Sutherland who lived there until 1940 when No. 61 was requisitioned by the government, ending its long history as a private Mayfair residence.
Incidentally, this amazing old home had one prominent American occupant. She was Mrs. Potter Palmer of Chicago. Her tenancy was for two years (1906-08), and she is recorded as entertaining frequently and lavishly.
As this amazing succession of owners passed through No. 61, located at the eastern end of Green Street, the remainder of the platted properties were slowly being developed. As in other streets of Mayfair, the lots were narrow and deep. A few, including No. 60 and No. 61, were essentially double in width but not in depth. Most shared common dividing walls as the follow on houses do today.
The period 1739-1754 was one of slow economic growth in Britain. London property development slowed down perceptibly. The properties in Mayfair did better than their competitors, probably being due to wide streets and high ground, plus improvements instituted by the Grosvenor trustees.
After Sir Richard died in 1738 he was succeeded by his brother, Sir Thomas Grosvenor. Sir Thomas unfortunately died in Naples just seven months later, passing the baronetcy and the estate on to the youngest son of the late Sir Thomas (the Elder) and Lady Grosvenor nee Mary Davies, to wit, Sir Robert Grosvenor. Fortunately, Sir Robert was relatively healthy and had issue to carry on when he, too, died in 1755. It was during this rapid turnover between heirs that the Grosvenor Board of Trustees was established. They later were to be called the “Estate Trustees” and they apparently provided wise counsel and continuity of purpose to the Estate’s land development in London and in other regions of England and overseas.
After the period of development slowdown ended, the west end of Green Street was rapidly filled. By 1790, it is recorded that all plots on both sides of the street were occupied by either dwellings or commercial stables.
It was during this period of business picking up that religion arrived on Green Street. Throughout the development of the Hundred Acres the Grosvenor Estate had been diligent in providing for the religious wellbeing of Mayfair residents. St. George’s in Hanover Square was built in 1725 and the Grosvenor Chapel had been erected, at Sir Richard’s expense, in 1730 on South Audley Street. The Estate then proceeded to build several so-called “proprietary chapels” on Mayfair property. Some of these have lively histories which we will not cover here.
One of the chapels was St. Mary’s at No. 51-53 Green Street. This is the present-day site of No. 52 and 53 Green Street. The chapel was built in 1762. Its sponsors were the Grosvenor Estate plus Mr. Benjamin Timbrell, the builder mentioned earlier in regard to the original founding of Green Street. St. Mary’s remained in place until 1880 when it was demolished to make way for today’s houses including No. 53.
Our other local church is the old Romanesque church of St. Mark at the foot of Green Street on North Audley. It came into being due to one of the few decisional errors of the Estate. In 1780 the Estate sold several leases along the east side of North Audley Street to a builder. Not long thereafter, in 1792, the Estate trustees decided that Green Street should be extended eastward as far as Duke Street, and perhaps even on to Bond Street as Brook Street had been. They offered the Audley Street developer the large sum of 1,500 guineas for the leases but were refused. After ongoing negotiations failed, the Estate trustees, with the consent of the Grosvenor heirs, gave away the single lot they had held on the North Audley block to the Church of England and St. Marks was built on it. As we know, it still stands at the bottom of Green Street and recently has been refurbished and reopened.
Perhaps the most interesting house on the north side of Green Street is at the opposite end from ancient No. 61. It is No. 32 and is the first house off Park Lane on the north side of Green Street. One of the newest houses on our street, it also is the largest and it now is the chancery and residence of the Brazilian ambassador.
This large house, No. 32, was built in 1899 for the fourth Lord Ribblesdale, a Midland steel and coal baron. It has 19 rooms including an elegant white and gold drawing room 42 feet long on the first floor. The exterior enjoys some excellent architectural details and it has been recently redecorated.
The house gave our street its single royal residency. In 1931 Queen Mary and King George V expressed an interest in purchasing No. 32 from the Ribblesdales as a wedding gift and residence for their daughter, Princess Mary, the future Princess Royal, and her husband Gerald Lascelles, the Earl of Harewood. The couple had leased Chesterfield House in Piccadilly but “preferred a small town residence.” Their country home, of course, was Harewood House in Yorkshire.
The Duke of Westminster agreed to the sale but with the provision that the Grosvenor Estate should have the right of repurchasing the house if it ceased being used as a private residence. Lord Harewood and the Princess lived at No. 32 until 1939 when it was requisitioned by the government for wartime use. During the 30s the Harewoods entertained extensively. Their presence gave an added touch to Green Street. In the lively London of the decade they stimulated prominent interest in the neighborhood. To illustrate this “royalty factor”, here is a partial list of occupants of Green Street homes in 1935, taken from the “London Green Book” published by the Post Office:
No. 32 – Earl and Countess of Harewood
No. 38 – Earl and Countess of Dudley
No. 46 – Mr. & Mrs. T.O.M. Sopwith (yachtsman and airplane maker)
No. 51 – Mr. Ernest Cassel (merchant banker)
No. 56 – Lady Sassoon
No. 61 – Duke and Duchess of Sutherland
No. 62 – Sir John and Lady Conyngham
Green Street had experienced little change during World War I. World War II brought many changes. Along with the Lascelles, many Green Street residents departed for country houses or overseas residences. Numerous offices were fashioned out of homes in order to house businesses bombed out of the City. It took only a few months for Mayfair to change from a domain of homes to an area of offices.
After the war this situation was not easily reversed. The Estate, Westminster officials and successive governments sought to move the offices out and reestablish the residential nature of Mayfair. Finally, in December 1990 the move back really took hold by Act of Parliament and now it is well underway, ten years later. There are, however, loopholes in the laws which permit many businesses to remain in place. Mayfair will house a mix of offices and homes for many years, it would appear.