Gardens to a 1930s block of flats, designed by Richard Sudell in approximately 1937.
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING: Dolphin Square stands in Pimilco, Westminster. The building is an oblong quadrangle orientated roughly north-south, with an internal courtyard garden of almost an hectare. This garden is technically a roof garden, having a basement below, and is level, though the natural topography slopes gently towards the river to the south. There is a single-storey amenity block in the north side of the courtyard, and this has also has a roof garden, of about 100m².
The landscaping continues along the outer elevations of the building on the east and west carriageways, and the riverside, separated by Grosvenor Road, was also part of the grounds.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES: the courtyard garden is only accessible to pedestrians. Primary access is from Chichester Street, to the north, and is via two vaulted passages through the building, emerging between the amenity block and the east or west range of the principal building. Access from the south is through three vaulted passages from Grosvenor Street, now with iron gates. Access is also possible from each of the building’s 13 ‘houses’; their lobbies open both onto the street, and onto the courtyard gardens.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING: Dolphin Square was built in 1935-1937 to the designs of Gordon Jeeves. It is a large complex of 1236 flats with amenity facilities, originally aimed at a high-to-middle class clientele. The unlisted building is an oblong quadrangle, seven storeys high on the northern range, and ten storeys elsewhere, and is divided into 13 ‘houses’. Stylistically it is neo-Georgian, with strictly-ordered, repetitive elevations, which are slightly more restrained in their decoration on the inward-facing elevations. A single-storey range, containing leisure facilities, projects deeply into the northern half of the courtyard.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS: the courtyard garden is the principal element of the scheme. It follows a geometric layout, with a strong central axis running roughly north-south, connecting the loggia of the amenity block, the central fountain, and the three archways on the southern range. Paths cross the axis perpendicularly, dividing the gardens into distinct sections. There are five recesses along the east and west sides of the courtyard in between the projecting wings of the building; each contains a separate, small-scale garden. A continuous perimeter path separates these from the central features of the courtyard. Most beds are raised, with low Cotswold stone walls with concrete copings, and these generally follow a strict geometric layout; those bordering the sides of the amenity block digress from this framework and meander along the edge of the building. Paths are laid, in the main, with concrete slabs, some of which have crazy-paving borders and occasional brick highlights.
To the south of the courtyard there are large lawns either side of the central pathway, which is lined with pollarded horse chestnut trees, and there are clumps of trees on the outer edges of the lawns. The privet hedging along the northern edges of the lawns were part of Sudell’s design; the hedging enclosing the outer and southern sides is a later introduction. North of the lawns is a formal arrangement of four raised lawns around a central pond with Butler’s dolphin fountain at the centre. Within the lawns there are beds, echoing the shape of the pond, with notched corners. This stands in front of an open loggia, with Doric columns and a copper roof, flanked by raised beds and low pavilions of banded brick and ashlar.
At the centre of the loggia are steps up to the former Spanish garden on the roof of the amenity block. This is paved in terracotta-coloured tiles and has a lion’s head fountain on the north side, in line with the principal axis of the courtyard. The Spanish garden, redesigned in around 2000, has pergolas, trellises, and a number of large potted shrubs.
The northern four recesses of the square originally contained an Italian, a Japanese, a Dutch and an Old English garden. Of these, the Japanese garden (which is said to have been re-christened the Chinese garden after the Second World War) in the north-east recess, is the most recognisable, retaining its narrow bridge and rockeries. The Italian garden, within the north-western recess retains the original layout, though enrichments: ivy-covered columns, classical sculptures and vases have been lost. The Dutch garden, between Duncan and Beatty Houses, is a formal arrangement with four raised beds around a central circular seating area; the armillary sundial and topiary do not survive. The English sunken garden, opposite, is a circular path around a bed, with raised beds to either side and in front.
In the central opposing recesses are two large pergolas supported on square stone and tile piers; attached trellising hides vents form the basement. There are stepped paths around the sides and through the centre of the pergolas, which converge at a circular step, which forms a perpendicular axis with the central fountain and the opposing pergola.
South of the pergolas, the next pair of recesses have raised lawns either side of a central pathway with seats and beds to the rear. That on the western side has been remodelled with a central circular seating area. The two southernmost recesses each have four raised beds bisected by pathways, with raised borders and a central seat. These have substantial shrubbery.