Montpelier Square

Last updated

Many of the houses along the northern side of the square and the face of one of an adjoining street Montpelier Square, Knightsbridge - geograph.org.uk - 481298.jpg
Many of the houses along the northern side of the square and the face of one of an adjoining street

Montpelier Square is a residential garden square in Knightsbridge, London, administratively in the City of Westminster. The homes were built in the 19th century and are of brick construction partly covered by stucco. All of the buildings facing inwards are listed grade II (the mainstream, initial category) in the heritage listing scheme used in England.

Contents

History, extent, listing details and value

From a point in Plantagenet England until 1955, Kensington's eastern spur was thinner, amounting to Brompton (a forlorn term for a wedge of Knightsbridge to the south). [1] Instead these easterly fields of Kensington Gore reaching north to nearly the Serpentine and going past its hamlet hub to the fence of the Palace (formerly royal manor) then from 1901 to Kensington Church Street) presented the largest exclave within Ossulstone (the Kensington Gore detached part of St Margaret Westminster). [2]

Internally, excluding small porches, the square measures 260 feet (79 m) by 200 feet (61 m). Private communal gardens, to centre, measure 0.2 hectares (0.49 acres). [3]

Grade II listing of 44 Montpelier Street, one of two southern approach ways, means that all houses within two-house-fronts of directly facing the square plus those all classical houses, whether or not internally converted to flats facing it are listed buildings. [4] 1–17, 17a–43 are listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England for their architectural merit. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] No.s 44 to 47, forming the eastern approach way (there is also a fourth approach way which is to the west) are not listed.

Average full houses, on long leases, of the square cost £8.2 million in 2018. [12]

In 2007 the Evening Standard saw the square a strong 'street of success' where 'the capital's corporate powerbrokers choose to make their homes'. The square ranked equally, 36th, as to declared housing of directors of companies with a turnover of more than £10 million. [13]

Notable residents

Helen Cecelia Black visited Mrs. Lovett Cameron at her such home for her book Notable Women Authors of the Day: Biographical sketches and described the rich interior of Cameron's house. [14]

Victor Lownes lived at No. 3 in the 1960s; Christine Keeler attended a party there in 1966 where she was spiked with LSD. Roman Polanski and Stuart Whitman were also guests at the party. [15] The Beatles also went to parties at Lownes's house. [16]

The dancer Michael Flatley sold his house for £7.2 million in 2015. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea</span> Royal borough in United Kingdom

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knightsbridge</span> District in central London, England

Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kensington Gardens</span> Park in London, England

Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde Park, in western central London. The gardens cover an area of 107 hectares. The open spaces of Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James's Park together form an almost continuous "green lung" in the heart of London. Kensington Gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middlesex Guildhall</span> Building of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London

The Middlesex Guildhall is the home of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It stands on the south-west corner of Parliament Square in London. It is a Grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sloane Street</span> Major thoroughfare in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cities of London and Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliament constituency in England, created 1950

Cities of London and Westminster is a constituency returning a single Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons in the United Kingdom Parliament. It is a borough constituency for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer. As with all constituencies, the election is decided using the first past the post system of election. Since its creation at the 1950 general election, the constituency has always elected the candidate nominated by the Conservative Party.

Brompton, sometimes called Old Brompton, survives in name as a ward in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Until the latter half of the 19th century it was a scattered village made up mostly of market gardens in the county of Middlesex. It lay south-east of the village of Kensington, abutting the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster at the hamlet of Knightsbridge to the north-east, with Little Chelsea to the south. It was bisected by the Fulham Turnpike, the main road westward out of London to the ancient parish of Fulham and on to Putney and Surrey. It saw its first parish church, Holy Trinity Brompton, only in 1829. Today the village has been comprehensively eclipsed by segmentation due principally to railway development culminating in London Underground lines, and its imposition of station names, including Knightsbridge, South Kensington and Gloucester Road as the names of stops during accelerated urbanisation, but lacking any cogent reference to local history and usage or distinctions from neighbouring settlements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Square</span> Grass-covered square in London, United Kingdom

Vincent Square is a grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England, covering 13 acres, lined with mature trees including London Planes. In among a network of backstreets, it chiefly provides playing fields for Westminster School, who own it absolutely; otherwise, it functions as a green lung and a view for the homes, hotel and other organisations adjoining. Nine of its adjoining buildings have been given strict statutory architectural recognition and protection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Place</span> Garden square in Knightsbridge, London

Hans Place is a garden square in the Knightsbridge district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, immediately south of Harrods in SW1. It is named after Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, PRS, physician and collector, notable for his bequest, which became the foundation of the British Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Churchill Gardens</span> Housing estate in Pimlico, London

Churchill Gardens is a large housing estate in the Pimlico area of Westminster, London. The estate was developed between 1946 and 1962 to a design by the architects Powell and Moya, replacing Victorian terraced houses extensively damaged during the Blitz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowndes Square</span>

Lowndes Square is a residential garden square at the north-west end of Belgravia, London, SW1. It is formed of archetypal grand terraces of light stucco houses, cream or white. The length of the central rectangular garden is parallel with Sloane Street to the west; visible from the north-west corner is a corner of the Harvey Nichols store, beyond which is Knightsbridge tube station. Ecclesiastically, it remains in a northern projection of one of the parishes of Chelsea, save its east side, in the very small parish of St Paul, Knightsbridge, a division which is mirrored secularly by the boundaries of two London Boroughs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilton Crescent</span>

Wilton Crescent is a street in central London, comprising a sweeping elegant terrace of Georgian houses and the private communal gardens that the semi-circle looks out upon. The houses were built in the early 19th century and are now Grade II listed buildings. The street is the northern projection of Belgravia and is often taken to fall into the category of London's garden squares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston House estate, London</span> Place in London, United Kingdom

The Kingston House estate and Ennismore Gardens in Knightsbridge is a green, dual-character area within the western limits of the City of Westminster in London. The first-named is immediately south of Hyde Park, London taking up the park's semi-panorama row of 8 to 13 Princes Gate (demolished) and otherwise, as to more of its wings, set around the east of Princes Gate Garden including a terrace of houses №s 1 to 7 Bolney Gate. The second-named is a garden square of 59 tall creamy-white terraced houses and the approach road to Prince of Wales Gate, Hyde Park as well as the identical-size public, square green of the church that is since 1956 the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and All Saints facing which green are its anomalous outlier row for a London garden square, №s 61 to 66. The relatively small, broad-fronted house set against the Consulate-used pairing at №s 61 to 62 is № 60 and as with the other 65 numbers of Ennismore Gardens is a listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Square</span>

Trevor Square is an elongated garden square in Knightsbridge, London. It was designed in the 1810s chiefly by architect William Fuller Pocock, and the mid-rise, basemented houses fronting its two long sides, with slate mansard roofs are listed in the British protective and recognising scheme, and were built in the 1820s. The main stonemason employed was Lancelot Edward Wood after whom is named neighbouring street Lancelot Place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Tea Clipper</span>

The Tea Clipper is a Grade II listed public house at 19 Montpelier Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ovington Square</span>

Ovington Square is a garden square in central London's Knightsbridge district. It lies between Brompton Road to the north-west and Walton Street to the south-east.

References

  1. Limits of South Kensington Civil and of Ancient Parish Vision of Britain. The University of Portsmouth and others.
  2. Limits of Westminster St Margaret Civil and of Ancient Parish Vision of Britain. The University of Portsmouth and others.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Montpelier Square". London Gardens Online – Montpelier Square. London Parks & Gardens Trust. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  4. Historic England. "44 Montpelier Street (1223456)". National Heritage List for England .
  5. Historic England, "1–7 Montpelier Square (1223388)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 29 January 2019
  6. Historic England, "8–16 Montpelier Square (1223344)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 29 January 2019
  7. Historic England, "17a Montpelier Square (1223400)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 29 January 2019
  8. Historic England, "17–25 Montpelier Square (1223409)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 29 January 2019
  9. Historic England, "26 Montpelier Square (1223410)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 29 January 2019
  10. Historic England, "27–35 Montpelier Square (1267311)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 29 January 2019
  11. Historic England, "36–43 Montpelier Square (1223412)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 29 January 2019
  12. "House prices in Montpelier Square, London SW7". Zoopla . Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  13. Hugo Duncan (2 November 2007). "Where the highest fliers love to live". The Evening Standard . Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  14. Helen C. Black (1972). Notable Women Authors of the Day: Biographical Sketches. Library of Alexandria. p. 79. ISBN   978-1-4655-1855-2.
  15. Christine Keeler; Douglas Thompson (3 March 2014). Secrets and Lies – The Real Story of Political Scandal That Mesmerised the World – The Profumo Affair. John Blake Publishing. p. 224. ISBN   978-1-78219-961-8.
  16. Piet Schreuders; Mark Lewisohn; Adam Smith (25 March 2008). Beatles London: The Ultimate Guide to Over 400 Beatles Sites in and Around London. Pavilion Books. ISBN   978-1-906032-26-5.
  17. "Dancing all the way to the bank: Michael Flatley sells London home for bumper profit". ITV News . 7 June 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2019.

51°30′01″N0°09′59″W / 51.5002°N 0.1665°W / 51.5002; -0.1665