Carlton House Terrace

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The East Terrace soon after completion.

Carlton House Terrace refers to a street in the St. James's district of London, England, and in particular to two terraces of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of the street overlooking St. James's Park. These terraces were built in 1827-32 to overall designs by John Nash with detailed input by other architects including Decimus Burton. They took the place of Carlton House, and the freehold still belongs to the Crown Estate.

The two terraces are Grade I listed buildings. Each terrace consists of nine large houses. They are unusual among expensive London terraced houses in that they do not have a mews to the rear. The reason for this was that Nash wanted the houses to make the best possible use of the view of the park, and also to present an attractive facade to the park. The service accommodation was placed in two storeys of basements (rather than the usual one) and underneath broad terraces between the houses and the park.

The Duke of York Column and Steps are located between the East and West terraces, leading down from Waterloo Place to the Mall and St. James's Park. The buildings were severely damaged in the Second World War. The facades have been restored to their original state, but many of the interiors are much altered. The first occupants were free to commission their own architect to complete the interior - eleven chose Nash, of which only that in number 7 remains largely intact.

Up until World War II, Carlton House Terrace was one of the most fashionable residential addresses in London. The Prussian Legates, and later their successors the German Ambassadors, inhabited Number 9 from 1849 until World War II, eventually combining it with Number 8. The terrace has had several famous residents including:

Lord Palmerston (Prime Minister): at Number 5 from 1840-46.
Earl Grey (Prime Minister): at Number 13 from 1851-57 and again from 1859-80.
William Gladstone (Prime Minister): at Number 4 in 1856 and Number 11 from 1857-75.
Lord Curzon (Foreign Secretary and Viceroy of India): at Number 1 from 1905-25.
Joachim von Ribbentrop (German Ambassador): at Numbers 8 and 9[1] from 1936-38.

The West Terrace. Numbers 8 and 9, formerly the German Embassy and now the home of the Royal Society, are the tall houses at the near end of the terrace.

Most of the houses are now occupied by businesses, institutes and learned societies. Number 1 is the headquarters of the Institute of Materials,Minerals and Mining. Numbers 6-9 are now the home of the Royal Society (the present German Embassy is in Belgrave Square). The Institute of Contemporary Arts occupies much of the basement of the East Terrace. The Crown Estate has had its headquarters in four houses in the terrace for many years (numbers 13-16), but as of 2005 it is reconstructing a building in Regent Street, which is also part of the Crown Estate, for its own use. In September 2006, the Hinjuda brothers, who presently have an apartment at number 24, successfully purchased the property for 58 million pounds.[2]

At the west end of the Carlton House Terrace is a cul-de-sac called Carlton Gardens, which was developed at around the same time. It contained seven large houses. World War I field marshal Lord Kitchener once lived at Number 2 and Number 4 was home to Lord Palmerston for a time and later served as General Charles de Gaulle's headquarters during World War II. All the houses except numbers 1 and 2 have been replaced by office blocks. Number 1 is an official ministerial residence, and is normally used by the Foreign Secretary.

Plans were also made to demolish Marlborough House to the west and replace it with a terrace of similar dimensions to the two in Carlton House Terrace, and this idea even featured on some contemporary maps, including Christopher and John Greenwood large scale London map of 1830, [3] but this proposal was not implemented.