Decorating Earls Court Square

Earls Court Square was developed between 1873 and 1886 on land formerly belonging to the Edwardes estate, one of the principal landholding families in the Kensington area. The estate's surveyor, John Blashfield, worked with several speculative builders to create a unified garden square in the fashionable Italianate manner, responding to the growing demand for genteel housing prompted by the opening of the District Railway's Earls Court station in 1871. The square's architectural character was carefully controlled through restrictive covenants that specified facade materials, storey heights, and decorative detailing, ensuring a visual harmony that has survived largely intact to the present day. The communal garden, enclosed by original cast iron railings, was designed in the Gardenesque style popular during the period, with serpentine paths and mixed shrubbery borders. During the two World Wars, several properties suffered bomb damage and subsequent insensitive repair, while the post-war conversion of many houses into bedsits and hotels led to the application of inappropriate modern coatings and the loss of original interior features. Since the designation of the Earls Court Conservation Area in 1975, a sustained programme of reinstatement has sought to recover the square's original architectural character, guided by archival research and measured survey.

The redecoration of Earls Court Square properties must begin with a thorough substrate audit, ideally employing phenolphthalein indicator testing to map areas of carbonated versus uncarbonated lime, and calcium carbonate spot tests to identify cement intrusions. Where modern masonry paints have been applied over original lime stucco, their removal is critical: these acrylic and vinyl-based coatings create a vapour barrier that traps interstitial moisture, causing blistering, stucco delamination, and accelerated freeze-thaw spalling. Controlled steam stripping or the application of proprietary paint removers formulated for use on calcareous substrates should precede any new coating. The recommended finish system for lime stucco facades is a potassium silicate paint, which penetrates the substrate and forms an insoluble calcium silicate bond, providing a matt, stone-like appearance with outstanding vapour permeability (sd value typically below 0.02 metres). For the Roman cement capitals and mouldings, consolidation with nanolime (CaLoSiL) may be necessary where delamination or powdering is evident, followed by shelter coating with a compatible limewash tinted with earth pigments. Timber sash windows should be stripped of all failing paint, treated with a boron-based preservative where fungal decay is detected, and repainted using a linseed oil primer, alkyd undercoat, and high-opacity gloss finish coat, maintaining the traditional three-coat system that provides both elasticity and weather resistance. Cast iron railings require wire-brushing to remove loose corrosion, followed by application of a calcium plumbate or zinc phosphate primer and two coats of micaceous iron oxide intermediate before a final gloss coat in the estate-approved colour, typically a deep Brunswick green or black. All ironwork fixings to masonry must be checked for integrity, with any loose or corroded tenon joints re-secured using lead caulking rather than modern resin anchors, which risk generating thermal stresses that can crack the surrounding stone copings and stucco reveals.