A suburb planned around villas
The land at St John’s Wood once belonged to the Knights of St John, which is where the name comes from. In the 1730s most of it was bought by Henry Samuel Eyre, a City merchant. In 1794 the family drew up a plan to build on it, working with the estate’s architect John Shaw. Building began in 1804, when the Eyre brothers held their first auction of plots.
What made St John’s Wood different was the house. Instead of long terraces, the estate built villas in their own gardens, many of them in pairs. The Eyre Estate says these semi-detached houses were thought to be the first of their kind in any town. They came in Italianate and Gothic styles, set along leafy roads with gardens front and back.
The neighbouring Portland estate built in the same spirit. Nos. 32 and 33 Acacia Road are a pair of stucco villas from around 1830 to 1840, with Doric pilasters and cast-iron Grecian guard rails at the ground-floor windows. Nos. 12a and 14 Norfolk Road, from the same years, have giant Corinthian pilasters and deep eaves on brackets. Hamilton Terrace, on land owned by Harrow School, was laid out from the 1820s, first with terraces and then with larger detached and semi-detached houses.
One front garden on Hamilton Terrace has an unusual story. The railings at No. 24 were once balconies at Robert Street and Adelphi Terrace, designed by Robert and James Adam. They stood there from 1769 until 1936. They also survived the Second World War, when many railings nearby were melted down.
Gates for St John’s Wood houses
Most houses here sit back from the road behind a garden wall and a pair of gate piers. Some of those walls and piers are listed separately from the house, like the front and return garden walls and gate piers at No. 25 Acacia Road. So the gate is not just a way in. It is part of a protected frontage.
Entrance and driveway gates
For a semi-detached villa, the gate often has to suit two houses that were designed as one. We look at your neighbour’s frontage as well as your own, so the pair still reads as a pair. For a detached house we design to the width of the drive and the height of the piers.
Security gates
If security is part of your brief, we design taller gates and side gates with close bar spacing, strong locks and frames ready for automation and access control. The proportions stay right for a Regency villa. Forged scrolls and finials let a secure gate look like part of the house, rather than something added later.
Railings and window guards
Low railings on garden walls, and guards like the Grecian guard rails on Acacia Road, are small details that people notice. We forge new guards and railings to match originals.
Balconies and staircases
For upper windows and rear elevations we make balconies and Juliet balconies, with external guarding to 1100mm as Approved Document K requires. Inside, we forge staircase balustrades for villas being refurbished.
Walls, piers, steps and lightwells
Gates in St John’s Wood hang on brick or stucco piers. Those piers were built for light gates, not heavy automated ones. Before we hang a new pair, we check the piers can take the weight. If they cannot, our team rebuilds them with proper footings.
We also rebuild garden walls, repair stucco, reset the front steps that rise to many raised ground floors, and rebuild basement lightwells. The building work and ironwork are planned together, so they finish together.
Planning in Westminster
Westminster City Council manages the St John’s Wood Conservation Area. A small part of St John’s Wood lies in Camden, so we confirm the right council at survey. Many villas are listed, and some front walls and gate piers are listed on their own. New gates, walls or railings over one metre high next to a road need planning permission. If your house or its boundary is listed, you will also need listed building consent, which is permission from the council to change a protected building. Check with the council before you commit. We supply scaled drawings to support the application.
Choosing a design
You can start from the craftsman’s design album of hundreds of proven patterns and adapt one to your piers. Or we can draw a fully original gate in CAD. Nothing is forged until you approve the drawings.
How a commission works
Survey
We measure the opening, check the piers and record any original ironwork.
Design and approvals
We agree the design with you and supply drawings for planning and any listed building consent. If automation is planned, we coordinate with your installer.
Forging and installation
Every piece is hand-forged in our own workshop, drawing on 20 years of hand-forging experience. Our London team installs it, with any parking bay suspensions arranged with Westminster in advance.
For gates or railings on a St John’s Wood villa, request a quote or give us a call.