Decorating Bury Street

Bury Street was developed during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries as part of the systematic building programme that created the St James's quarter. The street was named after the Bury family, who held property in the area during this formative period. Like its neighbour Duke Street, Bury Street was originally residential, providing accommodation for the professional and service classes who attended the aristocratic households of St James's. The street's transformation into a centre for art dealing and specialist luxury retail occurred during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as the expanding London art market required additional gallery space beyond the established dealers on Bond Street and King Street. The intimacy and discretion of Bury Street proved ideal for dealers specialising in Old Master drawings, prints, antiquarian books, and decorative arts, whose clients valued privacy and connoisseurship over the commercial bustle of larger galleries. This character persists today, with several internationally respected galleries maintaining premises along the street. The buildings have been adapted with characteristic restraint, preserving their Georgian domestic scale while accommodating the specialist lighting, climate control, and security requirements of fine art display. Bury Street falls within the St James's Conservation Area, with most buildings individually listed, requiring meticulous attention to the preservation of their external appearance.

The decoration of Bury Street's Georgian premises requires an approach of studied restraint that preserves the quiet elegance appropriate to this specialist art dealing quarter. The brick facades should be maintained in their natural state, with lime-putty repointing where the original mortar has deteriorated. The pointing must use a mortar precisely matched in colour to the original, as the intimacy of the street means that any variation in mortar colour between adjacent buildings is immediately visible. The timber sash windows benefit from a traditional linseed oil paint system in off-white or cream, with the fine glazing bars of the original Georgian windows requiring the careful application of a skilled brush hand. The gallery shopfronts, which are the most commercially significant elements of each facade, require paint finishes of the highest quality in subdued colours that provide a neutral backdrop for the displayed works. The entrance doors should be finished in colours that complement the brick, typically dark green, black, or dark blue, applied in oil-based paint with a slight sheen. The ironwork, including area railings and door furniture, requires careful preservation, with hand preparation and traditional protective paint systems. Any signage must be executed in a manner appropriate to the conservation area, with painted or gilded lettering on timber boards rather than illuminated or projecting signs.