History of the Club Buildings:

The following is an extract from the Naval & Military Club's history:

No. 4 St James’s Square was built in 1679 for occupation by Anthony, 11th Earl of Kent. 
On the night of 12th December 1725, the house then owned by the eleventh Earl’s son, the Duke of Kent, was severely damaged by fire. Contemporary notes record that the Prince of Wales hurried from Leicester House at the head of a detachment of Foot Guards, in order to restrain the London mob from looting the building and “took charge of the London Firemen”.
The house was rebuilt in 1728, much in the style it is today. Architects such as Hawksmoor and Giacomo Leoni have been linked with the re-design of the house, but this has not been established beyond doubt. In 1761, Later, George Byfield and Lord Burlington became involved in design modifications.
From 1834 to 1859, the house was occupied by Earl de Grey, who was the first president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. From 1912 to 1942 the house was owned and occupied by the second Viscount Astor. Nancy Astor was the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament in 1919. In 1942 it was requisitioned by the government and was used as the London headquarters of the Free French Forces.
In September 1947 it became the home of the Arts Council of Great Britain. Subsequently, the building was used as a Court House for several years, first as a division of the High Court, then as a Criminal Court, then as the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Finally in 1996, the house was purchased and became the property and new home of the Naval & Military Club otherwise known as the “In and Out”.

Statutory Listing:

No.4 St. James's Square is a Grade 2* Listed Building.  It is described as follows:

Site Specifics:
Site: 4 St. James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4JU
Listing: Grade 2*
Date first listed: 05-Feb-1970
Listing Text:
TQ 2980 SE CITY OF WESTMINSTER ST. JAMES'S SQUARE, 82/22 SWl 5.2.70 No. 4 G.V. II* Terraced town mansion. Rebuild or remodelling of a Barbon 1675-77 town house in 1726-28 following fire damage, attributions to Giacomo Leoni but also to Hawksmoor (ref. to 12 drawings for this house in his 'post mortem' inventory), as well as to Edward Shepherd. Amber stock brick, slate roof. Astylar Palladian facade with lofty piano nobile. 2 storeys and attic storey, with basement. 5 windows wide. Entrance in 2nd bay from left with stone Ionic columned porch, pilasters to wall flanking recessed 8-panel door with rectangular fanlight. Recessed glazing bar sash windows with stone architraves, those on ground floor eared with pulvinated friezes and cornices identical in level and form to that of porch; those on 1st floor (lowered) with pediments on consoles and the attic storey with the architraves eared top and bottom. Plat band and sill bands underlining ground and 1st floors. Moulded stone entablature over piano nobile and secondary cornice and blocking course to attic. Low pitched hipped slate roof virtually concealed. Early C.19 stone balcony to 1st floor with simple cast iron railing. Late C.18/early C.19 cast iron spear head area railings with urn finials. The rear garden front has a 4 window wide main block with 4-window return, no dressings but with 1st floor plat band and sill band and early C.19 balcony and crowning entablature with low parapet. The east wing has a C.19 stock brick 4-window extension following the main lines of the original. Fine interior, of unusual plan owing to northward extension of the site; notable features include hall with Baroque chimneypiece and arcade leading to inner hall and stair compartment (with later column screen), a very fine Palladian design with early C.20 embellishments to the original plasterwork, 2 archivolt arched windows flanking niche containing a plaster version of Rysbrack's Chiswick Inigo Jones statue, appropriately Jones-Palladian pattern to original ceiling, spacious stone stairs with fluted column balusters; 1st floor ballroom behind the entire front with Palladian stuccowork to coved ceiling and mid C.19 neo-Rococo gilded embellishments; rear drawing room, with original cornice dado and shutters, redecorated in mid C.19 French Rococo taste; this French Rococo decoration may well be designed by Earl de Grey whose residence this was from 1834 to 1859 and who was his own architect and interior designer at Wrest Park; redecoration on ground floor to rear c.1920 by D.P. Milne and P. Phipps etc. For building across end of garden see under Nos. 7 to 9 consec. Babmaes Street, SW1. Survey of London; Vol. XXIX.
Listing NGR: TQ2954480445