Grafton Street
- Client: Pembroke
1 Grafton Street is at the heart of Mayfair. Its sensitive refurbishment has focused on creating a more elegant and prominent street presence for the building through the sympathetic renovation of the ground level shopfronts, rationalization of the building curtilage and a reorganized entrance sequence which increases legibility and grounds the beautiful historic building into its surrounding context with a stately elegance.
Drawing on the attention to detail and craft used externally, the internals rely on a subtle palate of timber finishes with brass and bronze metal flourishes against the gauzy grey backdrop of the refurbished existing Basalt Limestone floor.
The repositioned external ground level frontage and landscaping increase legibility, accentuate the prestigious historic building’s façades and enhance the pedestrian and tenant journey experiences around the perimeter of the building.
The three main shopfront windows along Hay Hill have been replaced with larger fixed glazing areas for display and provided larger single doors, and the pavement has been fixed with New Portland stone, to match the original ones. This establishes Hay Hill as an independent retail precinct which complements the strong offer on New Bond Street.
The openings within the existing ornate Edwardian façade have been heightened by refinishing the timber shopfronts in a rich ebony gloss finish, to appear more contemporary. Brass and timber add a further level of detail and craft to the ground level facades.
Detailed black wrought iron and brass balustrade elements combined with the softness of the planting allows the office and retail entrances at Grafton Street frontage to differentiate themselves while grounding the building within the Mayfair context. The subtle details of the balustrades and stonework lend a finesse and prestige which underscores the building’s importance within the Mayfair area.
The reception space has been reconfigured to provide a clear hierarchy by creating a direct line of sight from the main entrance doors to the reception desk and defining distinct lift access and waiting areas.
The building’s amenity has been further improved through the reconfiguration of a portion of the existing lower ground level and basement retail and gallery units, freeing up valuable space in the basement to improve the office end of trip amenity while increasing the galleries frontage at ground level. The new basement space provides a large new cycle park as well as new shower and changing facilities which have been finished to a high specification.
