Decorating Dolphin Square

Dolphin Square is one of London's most remarkable residential complexes, a vast Art Deco development built between 1937 and 1939 fronting the Thames Embankment in Pimlico, comprising around 1,250 apartments arranged in ten named blocks around a central garden. Designed by the architects Gordon Jeeves for Richard Costain Ltd, it was at its completion the largest self-contained residential complex in Europe and remains a significant example of interwar modernist architecture in London. The complex has housed a remarkable array of politicians, intelligence officers, and other public figures over the decades, and it sits within the Pimlico Conservation Area.

The distinctive red-brick and Portland stone facades of Dolphin Square's mansion blocks require careful matching of the original warm-red brick tone and the precise detailing of the Portland stone window surrounds and cornices when any repair or repainting of dressed elements is needed, while the spacious interiors of the 1930s apartments offer scope for both period-faithful Art Deco decoration and contemporary high-specification schemes.