Decorating Bury Street

Bury Street was developed in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries as part of the original St James's estate grid, providing modestly-scaled residential accommodation behind the grander streets fronting onto St James's Street and Jermyn Street. The street takes its name from the Bury family connection to the St Albans estate, which controlled much of the surrounding land. Unlike many of its neighbours, Bury Street retains a relatively domestic character, its four- and five-storey Georgian terraces having survived the Victorian and Edwardian commercial pressures that transformed adjacent streets. Several properties retain their original iron basement area railings and simple Classical door surrounds.

Painted stucco elements on Bury Street — including rendered ground floors, window architraves, and cornices — should be decorated with a Keim Soldalit or similar breathable silicate system to prevent the moisture retention that causes stucco to blow on these older substrates. London stock brick facades should not be overcoated with masonry paint unless there is clear evidence of a historic precedent, as paint traps moisture within the soft brick body and leads to spalling. Timber sash windows and entrance doors should be maintained with linseed oil paint systems, which penetrate the wood grain and provide both protection and the authentic semi-gloss sheen appropriate to Georgian domestic joinery.