It is half of one large block south of the closing section of the Great Western Main Line that leads into London Paddington station.

Successive heads of the Thistlewaites, whose seat was Porchester manor in Hampshire, were foremost of three to four co-trustees of the Bishop of London's majority landholding of Paddington.

Eight building firms were used, resulting in slightly different exteriors of the large houses (now internally all converted into flats).

[1] The houses on the south side, keeping their façades and much of their internal structure, have been incorporated into an award-winning wider private development of flats and commercial premises since the mid-1970s, The Colonnades.

[1] The architectural facades of the classical terrace, facing onto Porchester Square Garden, now incorporated into the Colonnades development, were carefully refurbished in 2020 by the freeholders.