14 Princes Gate

The terrace containing 13 and 14 Prince's Gate was completed in 1849. It was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes and built by John Kelk. Shortly after completion of the terrace, the Crystal Palace was built opposite in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The first owner of No. 13 was George Baker, a building contractor. No. 14 was leased and then owned by John Pearce, but he did not live there. The first resident, from 1852, was Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley, a former soldier, who later bought the freehold. In 1854 No. 13 was rented by the American banker Junius Spencer Morgan, who bought the house at some time between 1857 and 1859. On his death in 1890 his son, John…

Like the buildings at the other end, no.14 is slightly set forward from the rest of the terrace. All the houses in the terrace have five storeys and a basement, and all are stuccoed. This was changed by Hastings' remodelling of the façade. The house as a whole now has four bays with rusticated quoins on both corners. On the ground floor, from the east there are two round-headed windows, then the entrance door with a round arch, and then another round-headed window. The keystone of each of these arches bears the image of a Native American. All the other windows in the building are square-headed. The porches and first-floor balconies were removed in Hastings' remodelling. The first floor has…