Time Walk
A Pocket of Stucco Behind Clapham Old Town
Seven matching terraces here were all listed on the very same day in 1979. Walking round the square today, the houses step up and down in height, all dressed in the same pale stucco.
Beneath the quiet terraces lies a Victorian experiment in suburban building, laid out as Clapham filled in around its old town centre. That story is told in Name Origin and History below.
Name Origin
An Unexplained Grafton
The sources used here do not explain why the square carries the name Grafton. No record among them links it to a person, place or patron.
History
Building a Garden Square
Grafton Square took shape as a 19th-century garden square, part of the wave of residential building around Clapham in the Victorian decades. A chapel was built within the square in 1852, giving the new development a place of worship from an early date.
The houses that line it went up in the mid-19th century as matching terraces: Nos. 1–3 a low run, Nos. 4–8, 16–21, 22–28 mid-height terraces, and Nos. 29–38 and 39–46 taller rows, all in the same stucco finish. All were listed Grade II on 30 May 1979.
Six separate terraces around Grafton Square — covering nearly every house on the square — were all listed Grade II on the same day, 30 May 1979.
Recent Times
A Fountain That Went Home
A granite drinking fountain and water trough once stood in the square, having been moved there from its original site in Old Town. In 2015 it was returned to Old Town, leaving the square without the feature it had briefly held.
Today
Listed Terraces, Still Facing the Green
The square's character survives chiefly in its listed houses, still facing the green much as they did when built.
On the Map
Grafton Square Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Grafton Square?
The sources used for this page do not explain the origin of the name. No record among them links it to a particular person or place.
What is Grafton Square known for?
It is a 19th-century garden square in Clapham known for its coherent run of mid-Victorian stuccoed terraces, seven of which were listed Grade II in 1979.
When were the houses on Grafton Square built?
The terraces date from the mid-19th century, built in matching stucco with banded rustication across heights from two to four storeys.
Is there a chapel on Grafton Square?
A chapel was built in Grafton Square in 1852, according to the Victoria County History account of Clapham parish.