Renovations in St John's Wood, NW8.

Building in St John's Wood.

St John's Wood was London's first garden suburb of villas, laid out from the 1820s, and much of that character survives: paired stucco villas set back behind front gardens, later Victorian houses on the roads towards Maida Vale, and the mansion blocks and 1930s apartment buildings along Wellington Road and St John's Wood Road. Abbey Road and Lord's sit at its edges, Regent's Park to the south.

For owners that means large, well-proportioned rooms, deep plots that suit rear extensions and basements, and a planning authority, Westminster, that expects any change to respect the villa character. We have fitted kitchens on Abbey Road and in the roads off the High Street, and we know which streets carry the tighter controls.

The St John's Wood Conservation Area covers most of the district.