It is recorded that in the early days of the 19^th century, the whole of Belgravia was “all fields and bogs”. Most of the land belonged at that time to Lord Grosvenor who also held the title of Viscount Belgrave and was later to become the Duke of Westminster. His family still own most of the area.

In about 1824 Lord Grosvenor obtained permission from Parliament to develop the site of Belgrave Square

and the work was carried out by a builder named Thomas Cubitt whose company has in the course of time grown into Cubitts, the well known contracting firm of the present day.

It appears that there was already a residence, Mortimer House on the Forbes House site as early as 1811. It was occupied by the Earl of Oxford and Mortimer and remained in the Mortimer family until 1857. In 1860 Colonel Edward Douglas-Pennant, later to become Baron Penrhyn, took over the house and his son remained there until 1907. The Earl of Granard was the next occupant from 1910, in which year the name of the house was changed to Forbes House after his family name, and he lived there until 1941.

In January 1941, when the house was empty, a bomb fell in the garden and another in Pembroke Mews but luckily it did no serious damage to the main building apart from breaking windows and doors. From 1945 – 1953 it was occupied by a Government Department, being known for part of this time as “The War Office Institute Club”. In 1955 The Observer newspaper used the house for an exhibition of Diaghilev’s ballet work which ran for three months.

In 1955, the building was used for a short time by a film company but was soon empty again until 1957 when it was bought by a speculative property company who gave it a coat of paint and sold the lease to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. After a complete renovation, Forbes House became SMMT’s headquarters on January 1st 1959.