Colville Gardens is a Victorian cul-de-sac street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, located north of Colville Terrace and east of the Portobello Market in Notting Hill, London, England. It is bordered on the north side by All Saints' Church.
Colville is also a ward of the Royal Borough. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 8,377. [1]
Colville Gardens was initially laid out in the 1870s by the builder George Frederick Tippett, who also developed much of the rest of the neighbourhood. It is possible that the street was named after the Colville Family, Scottish steel magnates. The houses were intended as single family homes for the well-to-do but, from the beginning, it proved difficult to attract wealthy buyers to the area and as early as 1888, the buildings began to be subdivided into flats. [2]
In 1885, Tippett was declared bankrupt. He attributed his failure to "his inability to let a large portion of his property and to the pressure of secured creditors". Gradually, the character of the buildings changed as wealthier tenants left the area. [2]
By 1928, the neighbourhood was described as "rapidly becoming poorer" and, by 1935, as a "largely slum area...large houses turned into one-room tenements and small flats". [2]
Further decline set in as residents moved away during World War II to escape The Blitz and, indeed, one of the buildings at the end of the street was destroyed by bombing, which also damaged numerous other buildings including All Saints' Church. [2]
The street continued to deteriorate in the 1960s and 1970s, along with the rest of Notting Hill, and the neighbourhood became notorious for the predatory business practices of slum landlord Peter Rachman. However, from the 1980s onwards, the street gradually improved, reflecting the general revival of Notting Hill in recent years. 1-9 Colville Gardens, formerly a notorious slum building, was rebranded as Pinehurst Court in the 1970s and now comprises around 105 one and two bedroom flats, mostly leased to private tenants on long leases of 100 years or more.
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around 2.9 miles (4.6 km) west of Central London.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the United Kingdom. It includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill, Kensington, South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge.
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Market. From around 1870, Notting Hill had an association with artists.
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name.
Perec "Peter" Rachman was a Polish-born landlord who operated in Notting Hill, London, England in the 1950s and early 1960s. He became notorious for his exploitation of his tenants, with the word "Rachmanism" entering the Oxford English Dictionary as a synonym for the exploitation and intimidation of tenants.
Regent's Park and Kensington North was a constituency in Central and West London represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Kensington is a constituency in Greater London which first existed between 1974 and 1997 and was recreated in 2010. Since 2019, it has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Felicity Buchan of the Conservative Party.
North Kensington is an area of west London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green and in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The names North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove describe the same area.
Pinehurst Court is a portered Victorian mansion block at 1-9 Colville Gardens, just off Colville Terrace and near the Portobello Market in Notting Hill, London, England. The terrace was initially built in the 1870s by the builder George Frederick Tippett, as single family residences, but from the 1880s the houses began to be subdivided into flats. By 1928 the neighbourhood was described as "rapidly becoming poorer", and by 1935 as a "largely slum area". The gentrification of Notting Hill in the 1980s and 1980s greatly improved the character of the building, which now forms a part of one of London's most fashionable neighbourhoods.
The Tabernacle is a Grade II-listed building in Powis Square, Notting Hill, west London, England, built in 1887 as a church. The building boasts a curved Romanesque façade of red brick and terracotta, and two towers with broach spires on either side. Today the Tabernacle serves as a cultural arts and entertainment venue, including a theatre, meeting rooms, music studio, art gallery, bar and kitchen, conservatory and a garden courtyard.
All Saints Notting Hill is a Church of England parish church in Talbot Road, Notting Hill, London. It is a Victorian Gothic Revival stone building with polychromatic decoration. All Saints' is a Grade II* listed building.
Pottery Lane is a street in Notting Hill, west London. Today it forms part of one of London's most fashionable and expensive neighbourhoods, but in the mid-19th century it lay at the heart of a wretched and notorious slum known as the "Potteries and the Piggeries". The slum came to the attention of Londoners with the building of the Hippodrome in 1837 by entrepreneur John Whyte. Unfortunately for Whyte a public right of way existed over his land and "dirty and dissolute vagabonds" from the nearby slum invaded his racecourse, adding to his financial difficulties and, in part, leading to the closure of his venture in 1842. Pottery Lane gradually improved in the late 20th century along with the rest of the Notting Hill area, and today the houses there fetch multi-million pound prices. Just one of the original brick kilns still survives; it is located in Walmer Road, just north of Pottery Lane, and bears a commemorative plaque placed there by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Powis Square is a garden square and locality in Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. The closest London Underground station to the square is Westbourne Park tube station.
Golborne Road is a street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London's Kensal Town. The road runs east from Portobello Road to Kensal Road.
George Frederick John Tippett was an English builder and entrepreneur who developed much of the former St Quintin Estate in Notting Hill, London. He is responsible for the construction of many buildings in the area which remain today, including Pinehurst Court, a portered Victorian mansion block at 1-9 Colville Gardens in Notting Hill.
Lancaster Road (West) Estate is a housing estate in North Kensington, west London.
Portland Road is a road in Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea that was built as a speculative development in the 1850s. The road has been noted for its division into three sections of different wealth: the section between Holland Park Avenue and Clarendon Cross/Hippodrome Place being one of the most expensive places to buy a house in London, a section of terraced houses further north being also very expensive but less so than the lower reaches of the road, and a section at the northern end that was once slums and is now working class social housing and is described as being north of an "invisible line" that divides it from the privately owned sections of the road.
Blenheim Crescent is a street in the Ladbroke Estate area of the Notting Hill district of west London.