Real Estate UK

Real Estate

Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to a district lying to the west of Central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Up to Brompton Road, it is a part of the A4 arterial road, while the remainder is part of the A315.
The eponymous district comprises the areas immediately surrounding Knightsbridge (the road) on the north, Sloane Street to its junction with Pont Street, and Brompton Road to its junction with Beauchamp Place. The district is notable as an expensive residential area, and for the density of its upmarket retail outlets, famously Harrods and Harvey Nichols.
For strategic planning the area is identified as one of two international centres in the London Plan.
History
Knightsbridge was originally a small hamlet or locality outside the City of London, between the villages of Chelsea (Chelsey), Kensington (Kensing town) and Charing. In the time of Edward I, the manor of Knightsbridge appertained to the abbey of Westminster. It was named after a crossing of the River Westbourne, which is now an underground river. It is recorded that the citizens of London met Queen Matilda at the Knight's Bridge in 1141.
To the north of the area, is the Hyde Park Barracks of the Household Cavalry, with a distinctive 33 storey tower by Sir Basil Spence. The Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department is based in Walton Street. At the centre of London, and under a major flight path into Heathrow Airport, Knightsbridge suffers from congestion, noise and pollution.
Culture
Cadogan Hall presents concerts of classical and popular music in Sloane Street. The Royal Albert Hall is a large venue for music and sports events. There are a number of fine art auctioneers located in Knightsbridge including Bonhams, together with many smaller boutiques.
To the north of the district, in Hyde Park, is the Serpentine Gallery, and at Hyde Park Corner is Number One, London (Apsley House), former London residence of the Duke of Wellington.
Nearby are the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square, and in South Kensington, the Ismaili Centre built by British architect Sir Hugh Casson, together with the Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum and Science Museum.
Prince's Club was a sports club based in two separate locations in Knightsbridge between 1853 and 1940, and was home to the sports of rackets, squash and badminton. They have subsequently moved down the road to Queen's Club in Kensington.
Economy
Knightsbridge is home to many expensive shops, including the department stores Harrods - the largest in Europe and owned by controversial Egyptian businessman Mohammed Al Fayed, Peter Jones - the traditional haunt of Sloane Rangers, and Harvey Nichols - made famous by the antics of Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone in BBC satire Absolutely Fabulous. Knightsbridge is noted as the home of flagship stores for many British and international fashion houses. The renowned London-based shoe designers Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik are based here. There are two Chanel stores in the area, alongside banks for high net worth individuals, including Coutts - bankers to the Queen, rumoured to reject any potential clients worth less than £5 million. Some of London's most renowned restaurants are here, as are many exclusive hair and beauty salons, antiques and antiquities dealers, and a clutch of chic bars and clubs.
Property
Knightsbridge is home to many of the world's richest people. It has some of the highest property prices in the world. 14 out of the top 200 most expensive streets in Britain are in Knightsbridge (Source: The Times, 2007). The district is leafy, especially so considering its location at the heart of London, with houses and apartment buildings, some with private gardens. It is also adjacent to Inner London's largest public park, Hyde Park. In 2006, a four bedroomed apartment in Knightsbridge sold for over £25,000,000 and on street car parking spaces sell for £300,000 on a 94 year lease. In February 2007, the world's most expensive apartment at One Hyde Park, sold off plan for £100,000,000, and has been bought by a Qatari Prince. The development is valued in excess of £4,000 per square foot (£43,000 per square metre).
Knightsbridge is mostly made up of strictly controlled Conservation Areas and development land is difficult to find. Most properties offered by developers are refurbished flats and houses. Many of these now have huge basement extensions, accommodating an eclectic range of facilities from swimming pools to private nightclubs.
The principle landowners in the area are the Duke of Westminster and Earl Cadogan. The two areas of aristocratic landholdings can be distinguished visually, as the red brick Queen Anne Revival buildings are mostly to be found on the Cadogan Estates, whereas white stucco fronted houses are mostly found on the Grosvenor Estate.
The most sought-after prime addresses are the garden squares closest to Harrods, which serves as corner shop to many of the world's billionaires and celebrities. The store's famous liveried footmen can be seen delivering purchases to the area's local residents, as can the paparazzi, hunting for residents and visiting celebrities. Popular addresses are Belgrave Square, Egerton Place, Cadogan Square, Lennox Gardens and Hans Place, which is located next to Harrods.
Derek Quinlan's private equity fund, Quinlan Private purchased 3.4 acres (1.4 hectares) of prime retail commercial property from the BP Pension Fund in 2005. This estate stretches along Knightsbridge from Harrods to Harvey Nichols. It is understood that this part of Knightsbridge, which includes some of the world's most expensive retail properties, will shortly be subject to substantial re-development.
Education
There are a number of independent Pre-Preparatory and Preparatory Schools in Knightsbridge, including three with Royal connections - Hill House School in Hans Place, where both the Prince of Wales and the singer Lily Allen received their first education, Francis Holland School which Princess Diana attended for a time after the divorce of her parents, and Knightsbridge School in Lennox Gardens, where the headmaster was formerly Equerry to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle caters for the educational needs of London's sizeable French community, many based in the local area. Some of Britain's leading degree courses for science-related subjects can be found at Imperial College which borders the district.
Residents
Knightsbridge has many notable residents. This includes many British and European socialites and aristocrats, Roman Abramovich, oligarchs from Russia, China and India, international businessman, Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, Saudi and several other Middle Eastern Royal Dynasties, investment bankers and hedge fund managers such as John Duffield of New Star Asset Management. There are also trend-setters like Charles Saatchi and his television presenter wife, Nigella Lawson. The famed fashion designers Valentino and Tom Ford of Gucci also live in the area.
Residents from the world of entertainment include Sir David Frost, Neil Simon, Anne Robinson, Laetiti Casta, and film stars such as Hugh Grant, Sean Connery, and Joan Collins, along with many other presenters, musicians, writers, and models.
A number of high profile people were raised in the area including Princess Diana, Sienna Miller, Amanda de Cadenet, and Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond.
Freddie Mercury of Queen was a local resident until his death, as was Ruth Ellis, the last woman in Britain to be hanged, for a crime of passion.
Mayfair
Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today (from 1686 until it was banned in that location in 1764). Until 1686, the May Fair was held in Haymarket, and after 1764, it moved to Fair Field in Bow.
Mayfair is roughly bordered by Hyde Park to the west, Oxford Street to the north, Piccadilly and Green Park to the south and Regent Street to the east. Most of the area was first developed between the mid 17th century and the mid 18th century as a fashionable residential district, by a number of landlords, the most important of them the Grosvenor family. The freehold of a large section of Mayfair also belongs to the Crown Estate.
The district is now mainly commercial, with many offices in converted houses and new buildings, including major corporate headquarters, a concentration of hedge funds, and real estate businesses. Rents are among the highest in London and the world. There remains a substantial quantity of residential property as well as some exclusive shopping and London's largest concentration of luxury hotels and many restaurants. Buildings in Mayfair include the United States embassy in Grosvenor Square, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Handel House Museum, the Grosvenor House Hotel and Claridge's.
The renown and prestige of Mayfair has grown in the popular mind due to its designation as the most expensive property on a British Monopoly set.
Chelsea
Chelsea is an area of west London bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above Sloane Square tube station. The modern eastern boundary is Chelsea Bridge Road and the lower half of Sloane Street, including Sloane Square. To the north and northwest, the area fades into Knightsbridge and South Kensington, but it is safe to say that the area north of the King's Road as far northwest as the Fulham Road is part of Chelsea.
The district is now part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. From 1900, and until the creation of the Greater London in 1965, it formed the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea in the County of London.
The word "Chelsea" means landing place [on the river] for chalk or limestone (Old English). Anglo-Saxon Cealc-h3� = "chalk wharf" . The first record of the Manor of Chelsea precedes the Domesday Book and records the fact that Thurstan, governor of the King's Palace during the reign of Edward the Confessor, gave the land to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster. Abbot Gervace subsequently assigned the manor to his mother and it passed into private ownership. Modern-day Chelsea was the site of the Synod of Chelsea in 787 AD.
Henry VIII acquired the manor of Chelsea from Lord Sandys in 1536, (Chelsea Manor Street is still extant). Both Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves lived in the Manor House, Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth I) was a resident, and Sir Thomas More lived more or less next door at Beaufort House. James I established a theological college on the site of Chelsea Royal Hospital (which was founded by Charles II).
By 1694, Chelsea - always a popular location for the wealthy, and once described as "a village of palaces" - had a population of 3,000. Even so, Chelsea remained rural and served London to the east as a market garden, a trade that continued until the 19th century development boom when the district was finally absorbed into the metropolis. The street crossing what was known as Little Chelsea, Park Walk, linked the Fulham Road to the King's Road and continued to the Thames and Local Ferry down Lover's Lane, renamed Milmans Street in the 18th century.
The King's Road was named for Charles II, recalling the king's private road from St James's Palace to Fulham, which was maintained until the reign of George IV. One of the more important buildings in the King's Road is Chelsea Town Hall, a fine neo-classical building containing important frescos. Part of the building contains the Chelsea Public Library. Almost opposite is the Odeon Cinema, with its iconic fa�ade, which carries high upon it a large sculptured medallion of the now almost forgotten William Friese-Greene, who claimed to have invented celluloid film and cameras before any subsequent patents.
Belgravia
Belgravia is a district of central London in the City of Westminster, situated to the south-west of Buckingham Palace. Belgravia is approximately bounded by Knightsbridge to the north (the street of that name, not the district), Grosvenor Place and Buckingham Palace Road to the east, Pimlico Road to the south, and Sloane Street to the west. The westernmost streets within this area are in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and can alternatively be considered to be in Knightsbridge and Chelsea.
Most of the area was owned by Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, who had it developed from the 1820s. Thomas Cubitt was the main contractor. Belgravia is characterised by grand terraces of white stucco houses, and is focused on the Belgrave Square and Eaton Square. It was one of London's most fashionable residential districts from the beginning, and remains so to this day. It is a relatively quiet district in the heart of London, contrasting with neighbouring districts which have far more busy shops, large modern office buildings, hotels, and entertainment venues. Many embassies are located in the area, especially in Belgrave Square.
Notable residents have included prime minister Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947), prime minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), American philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869), Polish composer Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), actress Dame Edith Evans (1888-1976), actress Vivien Leigh (1913-1967), Beatles' manager Brian Epstein (1934-1967), novelist Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908-1964), Frankenstein author Mary Shelley (1797-1851), Lieutenant Colonel Philip Edward Hardwick (1875-1919) who was the son of the architect Philip Charles Hardwick, and the poet Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). Currently, the area's most famous residents include UK's second richest man Roman Abramovich; the former prime minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher who lives in Chester Square; the actress and writer Joan Collins, singer-songwriter and actress Sarah Brightman, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, fashion mogul Elle Macpherson, and Lady Helen Taylor, the daughter of the Duke of Kent. It is also the birth place of Lord Randolph Churchill (father of Sir Winston Churchill) and actor Christopher Lee.
After World War II some of the largest houses ceased to be used as residences, but the new uses were restricted to certain categories, including embassies, charity headquarters and professional institutes. In the early 21st century some of these houses are being reconverted to residential use, as offices in old houses are no longer as desirable as they were in the post-war decades, while the number of super-rich in London is at a level not seen since at least 1939. Large houses in Belgravia are among the most expensive anywhere in the world, often costing more than �15 million (about US$32 million in 2006).
Holland Park
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London in England. Holland Park is widely regarded as one of the most romantic parks in London, due to its abundant wildlife and secluded hideaways.
Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive terraces of large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants. There are many popular shopping destinations located around Holland Park such as High Street Kensington, Notting Hill, Holland Park Avenue, Portobello Market, Westbourne Grove, Clarendon Cross, and Ledbury Road.
There are no official boundaries, but they are roughly Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road to the west, Holland Park Avenue to the north and Kensington Church Street to the east.
The northern half or so of the park is semi-wild woodland, the central section around the ruins of Holland House is more formal with several garden areas, and the southernmost section is used for sport. Holland House is now a fragmentary ruin, but a substantial part of its grounds were preserved from development and taken over by the local council. "Holland Park" contains a famous Orangery, a cricket pitch, tennis courts, a Japanese garden, a Youth Hostel, one of London's best equipped children's playgrounds, squirrels and (impressively for a London park) peacocks. Today the remains of the house form a backdrop for the open air Holland Park Theatre, which is the home of Opera Holland Park. The green-roofed Commonwealth Institute lies to the south.
The district was rural until the 19th century. Most of it was formerly the grounds of a Jacobean mansion called Holland House. In the later decades of that century the owners of the house sold off the more outlying parts of its grounds for residential development, and the district which evolved took its name from the house. It also included some small areas around the fringes which had never been part of the grounds of Holland House, notably the Phillimore Estate (there are at least four roads with the word Phillimore in their name) and the Campden Hill Square area. In the late 19th century a number of notable artists (including Frederic Leighton, P.R.A. and Val Prinsep) and art collectors lived in the area. The group were collectively known as "The Holland Park Circle". Holland Park was in most part very comfortably upper middle class when originally developed and in recent decades has gone further upmarket.
Of the 19th century residential developments of the area one of the most architecturally interesting is The Royal Crescent designed in 1839. Clearly inspired by its older namesake in Bath, it differs from the Bath crescent in that it is not a true crescent at all but two quadrant terraces each terminated by a circular bow in the Regency style which rises as a tower, a feature which would not have been found in the earlier classically inspired architecture of the 18th century which the design of the crescent seeks to emulate. The plan or the Royal crescent was the design of the planner Robert Cantwell and it was the need for the newly fashionable underground sewers which caused the "crescent to be designed in two halves rather than any consideration for architectural aesthetics.
The stucco fronted "crescent" is painted white, in the style of the many Nash terraces which can be elsewhere in London's smarter residential areas. Today many of these four storey houses have been converted to apartments, a few remain as private houses. The Royal crescent is a listed Grade 2.
Holland Park is now one of the most expensive residential districts in London or anywhere in the world, with large houses regularly listed for sale at well over ten million pounds sterling. A number of countries maintain embassies here.
Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the northern part of central London partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden.
The park has an outer ring road called the Outer Circle (4.3 km) and an inner ring road called the Inner Circle, which contains the most carefully tended section of the park, Queen Mary's Gardens. Apart from two link roads between these two, the park is reserved for pedestrians. The south, east and most of the west sides of the park are lined with elegant white stucco terraces of houses designed by John Nash. Running through the northern end of the park is Regent's Canal which connects the Grand Union Canal to the former London Docks.
The 487 acre (2 km�) park is mainly open parkland which supports a wide range of facilities and amenities including gardens, a lake with a heronry, waterfowl and a boating area, sports pitches, and children's playgrounds. The north-east end of the park contains London Zoo. There are several public gardens with flowers and specimen plants, including Queen Mary's Gardens in the Inner Circle, in which the Open Air Theatre is located; the formal Italian Gardens and adjacent informal English Gardens in the south east corner of the park; and the gardens of St John's Lodge. Winfield House, the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, stands in private grounds in western section of the park. Nearby is the domed London Central Mosque, better known as Regent's Park mosque, which is a highly visible landmark from parts of the park.
Located on the outside of the southern portion of the Inner Circle is Regent's College, a consortium of institutes of higher education and home of London Business School (LBS), as well as the European Business School London, British American College London (BACL) and Webster Graduate School among others.
Immediately to the north of Regent's Park is Primrose Hill a park with fine views of Westminster and the City. Primrose Hill is a Royal Park and belongs to the Sovereign along with all the other Royal Parks of the Crown Estate. It is maintained by the Royal Parks Agency with some peripheral input from both Camden and Westminster Councils.
Primrose Hill
The supposition that Primrose Hill is owned and maintained by the Corporation of London is an error that has been the subject of successful Crown litigation in both in the High Court and Court of Appeal.
The land, which was formerly known as Marylebone Park, had been Crown property for many centuries, and had been leased to the Dukes of Portland as a hunting ground. When the lease expired in 1811 the Prince Regent (later King George IV) commissioned architect John Nash to create a masterplan for the area. Nash originally envisaged a palace for the Prince and a number of grand detached villas for his friends, but when this was put into action from 1818 onwards, the palace and most of the villas were dropped. However, most of the proposed terraces of houses around the fringes of the park were built. Nash did not complete all the detailed designs himself; in some instances, completion was left in the hands of other architects such as the young Decimus Burton. The Regent Park scheme was integrated with other schemes built for the Prince Regent by Nash, including Regent Street and Carlton House Terrace in a grand sweep of town planning stretching from St James's Park to Parliament Hill. The park was first opened to the general public in 1845, initially for two days a week.
Queen Mary's Gardens in the Inner Circle were created in the 1930s, bringing that part of the park into use by the general public for the first time. The site had originally been used as a plant nursery and had later been leased to the Royal Botanic Society. In 1982 an IRA terrorist attack took place in the park; a bomb was detonated at the bandstand, killing seven soldiers (see Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings). The sports pitches, which had been re-laid with inadequate drainage after the Second World War, were re-laid between 2002 and 2004, and in 2005 a new sports pavilion was constructed.
A large variety of sports are played in the park including Tennis, Netball, Athletics, Cricket, Softball, Rounders, football, Hockey, Australian Rules Football, Rugby and Ultimate Frisbee. In addition, there are three playgrounds for children each with an attendant, and there is boating on the main lake.
These sports take place in an area called The Northern Parkland, and are centred around The Hub. This pavilion and underground changing rooms was designed by David Morley Architects and Price and Myers engineers and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. It won the IStructE Award for Community or Residential Structures in 2006.
The Park was scheduled to play a significant role in the 2012 Summer Olympics, hosting the baseball and softball, but those sports have been dropped from Olympic program with effect from 2012. However the cycling road race will still cut through Regent's Park. The Park also plays host to London Camanachd who have regular shinty scrimmages there.
Nine villas were built in the park. There follows a list of their names as shown on Christopher and John Greenwood's map of London (second edition, 1830), with details of their subsequent fates:
Marquis of Hertford's Villa: later known as St Dunstans; rebuilt as Winfield House in the 1930s and now the American Ambassador's residence.
Grove House: still a private residence but previously owned by Robert Holmes a Court, the Australian businessman. His estate sold the property after he died from a heart attack in the early 1990's. Grove House is said to have one of the largest gardens in central London after Buckingham Palace. The garden runs along the edge of Regent's Canal.
Hanover Lodge: as of 2005 under restoration for renewed use as a private residence. Recently (2007) the subject of a Court Case (won by Westminster City Council against the architect, Quinlan Terry, and contractor, Walter Terry & Co) that ruled that two Grade II listed buildings had been illegally demolished while the property was leased to Conservative peer, Lord Bagri. While the main residence still exists, the neo-classical roadside lodges no longer stand.
Albany Cottage: demolished. Site now occupied by London Central Mosque.
Holford House (not shown on Greenwood's map; but see Stanford's map of 1862): built in 1832 north of Hertford House, and the largest of the villas at that time. From 1856 it was occupied by Regent's Park College (which subsequently moved to Oxford in 1927). In 1944 Holford House was destroyed to a great extent when a bomb was dropped on it during World War II, and it was demolished in 1948.
St. John's Lodge: still a private residence, but part of its garden is now a public garden. This is an arrangement with the Lodge's owners who have allowed the main portion of their garden to be enjoyed by the public.
The Holme: still a private residence. The garden is open several days a year via the National Gardens Scheme.
South Villa: Site of George Bishop's Observatory (IAU code 969), erected in 1836 near the house and equipped with a 7-inch Dolland refractor. Hind, Vogel, Marth, Talmage, Pogson, and Dawes observed there. The observatory closed when Bishop died in 1861, and the instruments and dome were moved to Meadowbank, Twickenham in 1863. Twickenham Observatory closed in 1877 and the instruments were given to the Royal Observatory of Naples (Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte). The South Villa is now replaced by Regent's College, now one of the two largest groups of buildings in the park alongside London Zoo.
Sir H. Taylor's Villa: demolished; site now part of the open parkland.
A residential history of St. John's Lodge, The Holme and Hanover Lodge is to be published by the owners in 2007 along with some aspects of the litigation history surrounding these properties, including the IRA bombing of the nearby bandstand on Holme Green.
Between 1988 and 2004 six new villas were built by the Crown Estate at the north western edge of the park, between the Outer Circle and the Regent's Canal. They were designed by Quinlan Terry in a variety of traditional styles and named accordingly: the Corinthian, Gothick, Ionic, Regency, Tuscan and Veneto villas.
Hampstead
Hampstead is a suburb of London, England in the London Borough of Camden, located 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is officially situated within Inner London. It is known for its intellectual, artistic, musical and literary associations and for the large and hilly parkland Hampstead Heath. It is also home to some of the most expensive housing in the London area, or indeed anywhere in the world, with large houses regularly listed for sale at over twenty million pounds sterling (about US$40 million in 2008). The village of Hampstead has more millionaires within its boundaries than any other area of Britain.
Although early records of Hampstead can be found in a grant by King Ethelred the Unready to the monastery of St. Peter�s at Westminster (AD 986) and it is referred to in the Domesday Book (1086), the history of Hampstead is generally traced back to the 17th century.
Trustees of the Well started advertising the medicinal qualities of the chalybeate waters (water impregnated with iron) in 1700. Although Hampstead Wells was initially most successful and fashionable, its popularity declined in the 1800s due to competition with other fashionable London spas. The spa was demolished in 1882, although a water fountain was left behind.
Hampstead started to expand following the opening of the North London Railway in the 1860s (now the London Overground with passenger services operated by Transport for London), and expanded further after the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway opened in 1907 (now part of London Undergrounds Northern Line) and provided fast travel to central London.
Much luxurious housing was created during the 1870s and 1880s, in the area that is now the political ward of Fitzjohns & Frognal. Much of this housing remains to this day.
During the 20th Century, a number of notable buildings were created.
Of these, the Hampstead Theatre relocated in 2003 to the present Swiss Cottage site (increasing capacity from 140 to 325 seats) and the Swiss Cottage leisure centre was closed for rebuilding in 2003 and reopened in 2006.
Cultural attractions in the area include the Freud Museum, Keats' House, Kenwood House, Fenton House, The Isokon building, and the Camden Arts Centre. The large Victorian Hampstead Library and Town Hall was recently converted and extended as a creative industries centre.
Though now considered an integral part of London, Hampstead has retained much of its village atmosphere and charm, with Hampstead High Street playing a vital role in the day to day life of a Hampstead resident
Notable current and former residents
Hampstead has long been known as a residence of the intelligentsia, including writers, composers, and intellectuals, actors, artists and architects - many of whom created a bohemian community in the late 19th century. In the 1930s it became base to a community of avant garde artists and writers and was host to a number of �migr�s and exiles from Nazi Europe.
Famous past inhabitants have included:Sir Kingsley Amis - novelist and poet Martin Amis - writer; son of Kingsley, Sir A. J. Ayer - philosopher, philanderer, Michael Ayrton � artist, sculptor, painter, Nigel Balchin � writer, psychologist, Sir Arnold Bax - impressionist composer, Cecil Beaton - society man, fashion photographer, style icon. John S. Beckett - musician, composer and conductor, Sybille Bedford - writer, essayist , Sir Isaiah Berlin- philosopher, historian of ideas, man of letters , Sir John Betjeman-poet ,William Blake - poet, painter, writer, mystic ,Dirk Bogarde - actor ,Helena Bonham-Carter- actress, Arthur Boyd - Australian painter and sculptor, Marcel Breuer - modernist Hungarian architect and refugee, Sir Richard Burton - explore , Richard Burton-Hollywood actor, Lord Byron - poet, Elias Canetti - Nobel prize winning novelist, John le Carr� - author, Dame Agatha Christie - author, Lord Clark- art-historian , Samuel Taylor Coleridge- romantic poet and philosopher, John Constable - artist, Peter Cook - writer and comedian, Milein Cosman - artist, Charles Dickens - author, Jacqueline du Pr�- cellist, Daphne du Maurier , Sir Edward Elgar - composer, T. S. Eliot - poet, Sir William Empson- poet and renowned man of letters, Marianne Faithfull, Ian Fleming - author, inventor of James Bond, John Fowles - novelist, lived on the Church Row for many years , Anna Freud , Lucian Freud - artist, Sigmund Freud - psychoanalyst and philosopher, Naum Gabo - artist, John Galsworthy-Nobel Prize winning novelist, Hugh Gaitskell - renowned leader of the Labour Party (1955-63), Erno Goldfinger - architect, Sir Ernst Gombrich - art historian, man of letters , Walter Gropius - architect and designer, Thom Gunn - poet, Audrey Hepburn - actress, Barbara Hepworth , Elizabeth Jane Howard- novelist and actress, Sir Andrew Huxley - Nobel laureate, Aldous Huxley - novelist, spiritualist, Samuel Johnson - poet, aphorist, essayist, biographer, lexicographer, wit - typically known as Dr Johnson , John Keats- poet, Hans Keller - musician and writer ,Lillie Langtry, Doris Lessing Nobel prize winning novelist, D. H. Lawrence - author, Anna Mahler - sculptress and daughter of composer Gustav Mahler, Lord Yehudi Mehnuin - violinist, conductor, child-prodigy, virtuoso, A. A. Milne - author of "Winnie the Pooh", Sir Jonathan Miller, Lee Miller - photographer, fashion model, actress, war correspondent, George Orwell - author, Peter O'Toole, Lady Jane Bailey Paget, Anna Pavlova - ballerina, Sir Roger Penrose - mathematician, theoretical physicist, philosopher, attended UCS, Roland Penrose - artist and curator, surrealist, founder of the ICA ,J. B. Priestley - author, Charles Saatchi- billionaire advertising executive and sponsor of the contemporary arts, Percy Bysse Shelley - poet and romantic, Sir Percy Selwyn-Clarke - Governor of the Seychelles, 1947�1951, Stephen Spender - poet, man of letters, grew up in Frognal Gardens and schooled at UCS , Robert Louis Stevenson, Marie Stopes - world-renowned feminist and campaigner for birth-control , Elizabeth Taylor - actress, Eric Thompson - actor, producer, father of Sophie Thompson and Emma Thompson; married to Phyllida Law, Evelyn Waugh - author, H. G. Wells - author, Richard Wollheim - renowned philosopher of art, William Wordsworth - poet, Thierry Henry - football player, Sir Neil Shields - financier, Saul Hudson (Slash) - musician, Bob Hoskins - actor.
Hampstead is currently and has been recently home to:Constantine II of Greece - the (now deposed) King of Greece, Alfred Brendel - world-famous classical pianist, Stephen Kovacevich - world-famous classical pianist, best known for his Brahms sonatas, Rachel Weisz , Gwyneth Paltrow, Russell Crowe, Peter O'Toole, Freddie Highmore, Boy George, Michael Foot, Stephen Fry - writer, actor, comedian and filmmaker, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie, George Michael, Jonathan Ross, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Jamie Oliver, Jude Law,Fiona Bruce ,Brad Pitt, Michael Palin, Tim Roth, Sting, Freddie Ljungberg, Anna Choutova, Ralph Fiennes, Aliaksandr Hleb, Elizabeth Taylor, Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Chris Evans, Russell Brand, David Walliams, Jon Culshaw, Rachel Stevens, Jon Sopel, Robin van Persie, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Patrick Viera, Jake Maskall, Richard Wilson, Liam Gallagher, Craig David, Sacha Baron Cohen - aka Ali G & Borat, Mark Banin - Poker Player, Sarah Harding.
To the north and east of Hampstead, and separating it from Highgate, is London's largest ancient parkland, Hampstead Heath, which includes the well-known and legally-protected view of the London skyline from Parliament Hill. The Heath, a major place for Londoners to walk and "take the air", has three open-air public swimming ponds; one for men, one for women, and one for mixed bathing, which were originally reservoirs for drinking water and part of the River Fleet.
Local activities include major open-air concerts on summer Saturday evenings on the slopes below Kenwood House, book and poetry readings, fun fairs on the lower reaches of the Heath, period harpsichord recitals at Fenton House, Hampstead Scientific Society and Hampstead Photographic Society.
The largest single place of employment in Hampstead is the Royal Free Hospital in Pond Street, but many small businesses based in the area have international significance. George Martin's Air recording studios, in converted church premises in Lyndhurst Road, is a current example, as Jim Henson's Creature Shop was, before it relocated to California.
The area has some remarkable examples of architecture, one being the Isokon building in Lawn Road, a Grade I listed experiment in collective housing, once home to the likes of Agatha Christie, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson and Walter Gropius. It was recently restored by Notting Hill Housing.
Bayswater
Bayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster. It is a built-up district located 3 miles (4.8 km) west north-west of Charing Cross and borders the north of Hyde Park over Kensington Gardens.
Bayswater is one of London's most cosmopolitan areas, with the significant diversity of the local population added to by having one of London's highest concentration of hotels. One of the busiest streets just off Bayswater is Inverness Terrace. It is populated by a number of Victorian buildings which have been combined into hotels.
Notably, there is a significant Arab population towards Edgware Road, a large number of Americans, a substantial Greek community attracted by London's Greek Orthodox Cathedral, the area is also a centre of London's Brazilian community and a substantial local population.
Architecturally, the biggest part of the area is made up of Georgian stucco terraces and garden squares, mostly, although not exclusively, divided up into flats. The property ranges from very expensive apartments to small studio flats. There are also purpose built apartment blocks dating from the inter-war period as well as more recent developments, and a large Council Estate, the 800 flat Hallfield Estate, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and now largely sold off. There are many garden squares in the area.
Queensway and Westbourne Grove are busy High Streets, with a very large number of ethnic restaurants.
It has a population density of 17,500 people per square kilometre.
The land now called Bayswater belonged to the Abbey of Westminster when the Domesday Book was compiled; the most considerable tenant under the abbot was Bainiardus, probably the same Norman associate of the Conqueror who gave his name to Baynard's Castle. The descent of the land held by him cannot be clearly traced: but his name long remained attached to part of it; and, as late as the year 1653, a parliamentary grant of the Abbey or Chapter lands describes "the common field at Paddington" as being "near a place commonly called Baynard's Watering". In 1720, the lands of the Dean and Chapter are described to be the occupation of Alexander Bond, of Bear's Watering, in the same parish of Paddington. It may therefore fairly be concluded that this portion of ground, always remarkable for its springs of excellent water, once supplied water to Baynard, his household, or his cattle; that the memory of his name was preserved in the neighbourhood for six centuries; and that his watering-place now takes the abbreviated name Bayswater.
Famous residentsBrett Anderson J. M. Barrie Winston Churchill Alexander Fleming Jonathan King Keira Knightley Guglielmo Marconi (the pioneer of wireless communication) lived at 71 Hereford Road between 1896 and 1897 with his mother upon arrival to England (marked by a Blue Plaque) Stella McCartney Sting occupied a basement flat at 28A Leinster Square in the late seventies during the formative years of The Police. Trudie Styler, now his wife, lived in a basement flat two doors down. Damon Albarn Mike Atherton Jeremy Clarkson Paul Simonon Mariella Frostrup
Squares
London has had a long history with squares. Of London squares, a few, such as Trafalgar Square, were built as public open spaces, like the city squares found in many cities, but most of them originally contained private communal gardens for use by the inhabitants of the surrounding houses (these are sometimes known as garden squares). This type of space is most prevalent in central London, but squares are also found in the suburbs. Some of these gardens are now open to the public, while others are still private. "Square" is a generic term for such spaces and a common road name and, in both cases, some are not actually square, or even rectangular. This is explained by two factors:
First, some communal garden spaces are officially squares, while others may locally be referred to as a "square" or "the square" but this is not the official name of a street, park or gardens.
Second, some older squares were either not square to begin with or have lost their original layout due to the many transformations of London not least following the Great Fire of London and The Blitz. Each London Borough has rules which have been drawn up prevent inappropriate street names being used to designate new developments or to rename existing features - the general requirement for new squares in London is that they be rectangular and be to some extent open. Billiter Square, EC3 and Millennium Square, SE1 are examples of squares which do not satisfy these guidelines.
The making of residential squares fell into decline in the early twentieth century, one of the last notable such squares was designed by Edwin Lutyens for Hampstead Garden Suburb. But in the last quarter of the twentieth century a fashion for making office squares developed. This trend was led by the Broadgate development. The new London Square development indicates a minor revival in the development of new wholly residential squares. However, as a mixed-use focal area squares have become a resurgent planning design, this is reflected for instance by Times Square, Sutton or Canada Square in Canary Wharf.
The parks can be split according to garden squares and other squares.
"Grosvenor Square", "Russell Square" ,"Belgrave Square", "Berkeley Square", "Golden Square", "Soho Square", "Bedford Square", "Sloane Square", "St. James's Square", "Clapton Square","Trafalgar Square", "Leicester Square", "Covent Garden", "Parliament Square"
Parliament Square
Parliament Square is a square outside the north-western end of the Palace of Westminster in London. It features a large open green area in the middle, with a group of trees to its west.
Other buildings looking upon the Square include Westminster Abbey and St. Margaret's, Westminster, the Middlesex Guildhall (to become the seat of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom), 100 Parliament Street serving HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs, and Portcullis House (and so Westminster tube station).
Roads coming off the Square are St. Margaret Street (becoming Abingdon Street and then Millbank), Broad Sanctuary (becoming Victoria Street), Great George Street (which becomes Birdcage Walk), Parliament Street (becoming Whitehall), and Bridge Street (becoming Westminster Bridge).
Statues in and around the Square are mostly of well-known statesmen, and include ones of Winston Churchill (on the north-eastern edge of the green and turned east, overlooking Parliament), Abraham Lincoln (in front of Middlesex Guildhall), Robert Peel (south-western edge of the green), Lord Palmerston (north-western edge of the green), Jan Christian Smuts (northern edge of the green), Derby, Disraeli and George Canning. On August 29, 2007, a nine-foot high bronze statue of Nelson Mandela was erected in the square, Westminster City Council having objected to its erection in Trafalgar Square, due to space considerations. It was unveiled by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in the presence of Wendy Woods, the widow of Donald Woods, the late anti-apartheid campaigner, and the former British actor and long-time friend of Woods, Lord Attenborough.
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden. The area is dominated by shopping, street performers and entertainment facilities and contains an entrance to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, which is also widely known simply as "Covent Garden", and the bustling Seven Dials area.
The area is bounded by High Holborn to the north, Kingsway to the east, the Strand to the south and Charing Cross Road to the west. Covent Garden Piazza is located in the geographical centre of the area and was the site of a flower, fruit and vegetable market from the 1500s until 1974, when the wholesale market relocated to New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms. Nearby areas include Soho, St James's, Bloomsbury and Holborn.
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west. The park at the centre of the Square is bound by Cranbourn Street, to the north; Leicester Street, to the east; Irving Street, to the south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to the west. It is within the City of Westminster, and about equal distances (about 400 yards or 300 metres) north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus.
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a square in London, England that commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars. The original name was to have been "King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square".
The northern area of the square had been the site of the King's Mews since the time of Edward I, while the southern end was the original Charing Cross, where the Strand from the City met Whitehall, coming north from Westminster. As the midpoint between these twin cities, Charing Cross is to this day considered the heart of London, from which all distances today are measured.
In the 1820s the Prince Regent engaged the landscape architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845.
The square, a popular site for political demonstrations, is the site of Nelson's Column as well as other statues and sculptures of note.
St James Square
St James Square is the only square in the exclusive St James's district of the City of Westminster. It has predominantly Georgian and neo-Georgian architecture and a private garden in the centre. For its first two hundred or so years it was one of the three or four most fashionable residential address in London, and it is now home to the headquarters of a number of well-known businesses, including BP and Rio Tinto Group, as well as some exclusive clubs and the London Library.
The garden's main feature is an equestrian statue of William III erected In 1662 Charles II extended a lease over the Pall Mall (St James's) Field held by Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans to 1720 and soon afterwards the earl began to lay out the property for development. The earl petitioned the king that the class of occupants they both hoped to attract to the new district would not take houses without the prospect of eventually acquiring them outright, and in 1665 the king granted the freehold of the site of St. James's Square and some closely adjacent parts of the field to the earl's trustees. The location was convenient for the royal palaces of Whitehall and St James. The houses on the east, north and west sides of the square were soon developed, each of them being constructed separately as was usual at that time.
In the 1720's seven dukes and seven earls were in residence. The east, north and western sides of the square contained some of the most desirable houses in London. At first glance they do not appear much different from most other houses in the fashionable parts of the West End, but this is deceptive. The windows were more widely spaced than most, the ceilings were high, and deep plots and ingenious planning allowed some of the houses to contain a very large amount of accommodation indeed (see the plans in the Survey of London extract linked below and note that this is not reflected in the extract from Horwood's map shown as he had no access to the interiors). Some of the houses had fine interiors by leading architects such as Matthew Brettingham, Robert Adam and John Soane.
The southern side of the square was much more modest. The plots were just sixty feet deep and an average of 22 feet wide. They originally faced Pall Mall and had Pall Mall numbers (the modern reconstructions, which are mostly offices, have fronts to both the square and the street). The residents of these houses were not eligible to be trustees of the trust which administered the square or even to use the central garden. The idea of buying them out, demolishing their houses and leaving the space open to the Pall Mall was mooted more than once, but never implemented.
Things began to change by the 1830s with the arrival of club-houses, and in 1844 The Builder commented that the square was losing caste and the fashionable were migrating to Belgravia. By 1857 the square contained a bank, an insurance society, two government offices, the London Library, two lodging-houses and three clubs. However some of the houses continued to be occupied by the fashionable.
The numbering starts with Number 1 to the north of Charles Street on the eastern side of the square and proceeds anti-clockwise as far as Number 21. The Army and Navy Club's clubhouse occupies the former sites of Number 22, a smaller adjacent house which may have had a George Street number, and several former houses in Pall Mall. Norfolk House at the southern end of the square is Number 31, and the two houses to its north are Numbers 32 and 33. A small house in the angle of the square south of Norfolk House, originally numbered in John Street, and the adjacent house in Pall Mall, have been combined and allocated the number 31A.
The smaller houses along the southern side had Pall Mall numbers until 1884. This block is now occupied by a mixture of 19th and 20th century buildings which are fully built up to the pavements on both sides. Some of them have their main entrance in Pall Mall and others in the square, and there are two separate sets of numbers for them. The numbers in the square range from 22A to 30, with some omissions.
No. 1: BP head office. Also occupies the site of the former No. 2 and several demolished houses in Charles Street. It is a post-modern building dating from c.2000 which defers to the Georgian style of the street. It was built to be Ericson's London office and was sold to BP for £117 million in 2001. No. 3: The original house had many owners and tenants, including the holders of at least three separate dukedoms, and was worked on by various architects including John Soane. The present building is a 1930s office block. No. 4: The Naval & Military Club in a Georgian house of 1726-28 by Edward Shepherd. Former home of Nancy Astor.No. 5: Present house by Matthew Brettingham 1748�9. Refronted in stone, porch added, and attic converted into a full storey in 1854. Now offices. No. 6: Rio Tinto Group head office. Modern. No. 7: Neo Georgian, architect Edwin Lutyens, 1911. No. 8: Neo Georgian, architects Robert Angell and Curtis, 1939 Nos. 9 to 11: Numbers 9, 10 and 11 were built in the 1730s on the site of the former Ormonde House, once the largest house in the square. Henry Flitcroft supervised number 10 and probably also numbers 9 and 11. No. 10 is Chatham House, former home of British Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder and of the Earl and Countess of Blessington. No. 12: Built 1836, probably by Thomas Cubitt. Former home of Augusta Lovelace. No. 13: Built 1735-1737, possibly by Matthew Brettingham. No. 14: Occupied by the London Library since 1845, rebuilt for them 1896-98 and subsequently extended to the rear. No. 15: By James Stuart, 1764�6. Balcony added circa 1791 by Samuel Wyatt. Now offices. No. 16 and site of former No. 17: East India Club, built in 1865 to designs by Charles Lee. No. 18: Italianate reconstruction of 1846. Now apartments. No. 19: The London home of the Dukes of Cleveland and family from 1720 to 1894. A replacement building of 1898-99 used variously as offices and residentially was replaced by the present stone-clad offices in 1999-2000. No. 20/21: Robert Adam's reconstruction of No. 20 for Sir Watkin Williams Wynn from 1771-75 is one of the most praised of his smaller works. The house was three bays wide and had three main storeys plus an attic. In 1936 it was extended to include the rebuilt No. 21 to its south, forming a uniform seven bay facade with an extra full storey on top. (Former) No. 22 and adjacent buildings: replaced by the Army and Navy Club 1848-51. It had a bold Venetian exterior. This has been lost and the present building is in a mean mid 20th century style. Nos. 22A to 30: See above. Little historical or architectural significance, except that the now defunct Junior Carlton Club once occupied a grand clubhouse at the western end of the block. No. 31: "Norfolk House" - the London residence of the Dukes of Norfolk for many generations. Replaced between the wars with a neo-Georgian office building of the same name which was General Eisenhower's headquarters during World War II, where Operation Torch and Operation Overlord were planned. No. 32: Built by Samuel Pepys and Charles Robert Cockerell in 1819-21. Later alterations. Used as offices. No. 33: By Robert Adam (1770-72) replacing an earlier house. Altered by John Soane 1817-23. Later alterations including an additional storey, but still essentially Georgian. Used as offices.
Sloane Square
Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the fashionable London districts of Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Chelsea, located 2.1 miles (3.4 km) southwest of Charing Cross. The square is part of the Hans Town area designed in 1771 by Henry Holland Snr. and Henry Holland Jnr. Both the town and square were named after Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), whose heirs owned the land at the time.
The square lies at the east end of the trendy King's Road and at the south end of the more conventionally smart Sloane Street. In the early 1980s, it lent its name to the "Sloane Rangers", the young underemployed, often snooty and ostentatiously well-off members of the upper classes. The Square has two notable buildings: Peter Jones department store and the Royal Court Theatre. The River Westbourne is carried over the tube station in a large iron pipe.
Bedford Square
Bedford Square is a square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England. It was built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, and has had many distinguished residents, including Lord Eldon, one of Britain's longest serving and most celebrated Lord Chancellors, who lived in the largest house in the square for many years. The square takes its name from the main title of the Russell family, the Dukes of Bedford, who were the main landlords in Bloomsbury.
Bedford Square is one of the best preserved set pieces of Georgian architecture in London, but most of the houses have now been converted into offices. Numbers 1-10, 11, 12-27, 28-38 and 40-54 are grade I listed buildings. The central garden remains private.
The Soho Square neighborhood is universally regarded as the most prestigious (and expensive) address of London media organisations, Soho Square is home to several leading film, television and sport organisations that include the British Board of Film Classification, the Football Association, 20th Century Fox, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, International Creative Management, Paul McCartney (MPL), Vivid London Relevant Picture Company, Tiger Aspect Productions, Allsop, Evolutions Television and the Really Useful Group. The area also features many businesses (including Expedia.com), clubs, and bars, as well as two churches. St. Patrick's Church is a very large Roman Catholic Parish Church that features extensive catacombs (that spread deep under the Square and further afield). Also, directly underneath the Square's garden is a large sub-station.
Built in the late 1670s, Soho Square was in its early year's one of the most fashionable places to live in London. It was originally called King's Square, for King Charles II. A statue of Charles II was carved by Danish sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber in 1681 and placed at the center of the Square. By the early 19th century, the statue was described as being 'in a most wretched mutilated state; and the inscriptions on the base of the pedestal quite illegible'. In 1875, it was removed during alterations in the square by T. Blackwell, of Crosse and Blackwell, the venerable jam firm, who gave it for safekeeping to his friend, artist Frederick Goodall, with the intention that it might be restored. Goodall placed the statue on an island in his lake at Grim's Dyke, where it remained when dramatist W. S. Gilbert purchased the property in 1890, and there it stayed after Gilbert's death in 1911. In her will, Lady Gilbert directed that the statue be returned, and it was restored to Soho Square in 1938.
Two of the original houses, nos. 10 and 15, still stand. At nos. 8 and 9 is the French Protestant Church, built in 1891-3.
Golden Square
Golden Square, Soho, London in the City of Westminster is one of the great historic squares of Central London. The square is just east of Regent Street and north of Piccadilly Circus.
Probably laid down according to plans by Sir Christopher Wren, this west London square was brought into being from the 1670s onwards. It very rapidly became the political and ambassadorial district of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, housing the Portuguese embassy among others. The town house of the first Viscount Bolingbroke, much favoured by Queen Anne, was situated on the square.
Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square is a town square in the West End of London in the City of Westminster, originally laid out in the mid 18th century by architect William Kent. It is named after the noble Gloucestershire family of the same name whose London home, Berkeley House, had stood nearby until 1733.
Berkeley Square is a mostly residential enclave inhabited almost exclusively by residents who are most likely of extremely well-to-do financial means and some even of titled or peeraged gentry. A residence in Berkeley Square is highly sought after, and residences do not come up on the market very often at all. The limited supply and great demand has created a market where a residence in Berkeley Square commands higher-than-usual prices on the realty market compared to similar residences, even in other affluent neighborhoods.
The square features a statue by Alexander Munro, a Pre-Raphaelite sculptor, made in 1858. The surrounding London Plane trees are among the oldest in central London, planted in 1789. Gunter's Tea Shop, founded under a different name in 1757, is also located in Berkeley Square. The buildings around the square include several by other notable architects including Robert Adam, who designed Lansdowne House (since 1935 home of the Lansdowne Club) in the south-west corner of the square. 50 Berkeley Square is the most infamous haunted house in London. The house is currently occupied by Maggs Brothers Antiquarian Booksellers.
Residents of Berkeley Square have included:George Canning, UK Prime Minister (1827) - at no. 50Winston Churchill lived at no.48 as a child Robert Clive of India - bought no. 45 in 1761 and committed suicide there in 1774.
Belgrave Square
Belgrave Square is one of the grandest 19th century squares in London, England. Bordering Knightsbridge, it is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and was laid out by the property contractor Thomas Cubitt for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s. Most of the houses were occupied by 1840. The square takes its name from one of the Duke of Westminster's subsidiary titles, Viscount Belgrave. The village of Belgrave, Cheshire is two miles from the Grosvenor family's main country seat of Eaton Hall.
The original scheme consisted of four terraces, each made up of eleven grand white stuccoed houses, apart from the south east terrace, which has twelve; detached mansions in three of the corners; and a private central garden. The numbering is clockwise from the north: NW terrace Nos. 1 to 11; west corner mansion No. 12; SW terrace 12-23; south corner mansion No. 24; SE terrace Nos. 25-36; east corner mansion No. 37; NE terrace Nos. 38-48. There is also slightly later detached house at the northern corner, No. 49, which was which was built in by Cubitt for Sidney Herbert in 1851. The terraces were designed by George Basevi and are possibly the grandest houses ever built in London on a speculative basis. The largest of the corner mansions, Seaford House in the east corner, was designed by Philip Hardwick, and the one in the west corner was designed by Robert Smirke.
Russell Square
The square is named after the surname of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford, who developed the family's London landholdings in the 17th and 18th centuries, beginning with Covent Garden (Bedford Street). Russell Square was formed when new streets were laid out by the Duke on the site of the gardens of his former home Bedford House, their London seat. Other local street names relating to the Duke of Bedford include Bedford Square, Bedford Place, Bedford Avenue, Bedford Row and Bedford Way; Woburn Square and Woburn Place (from Woburn Abbey); Tavistock Square, Tavistock Place and Tavistock Street (Marquess of Tavistock), and Thornhaugh Street (after a subsidiary title Baron of Thornhaugh). The street lamps around this area carry the Bedford Arms.
The square contained large terraced houses aimed mainly at upper middle class families. A number of the original houses survive, especially on the southern and western sides. Those to the west are occupied by the University of London, and there is a blue plaque on one at the north west corner commemorating that T.S Eliot worked there for many years when he was poetry editor of Faber & Faber: a building now used by the School of Oriental and African Studies (a college of the University of London). Thomas Lawrence had a studio at number 67 (1805-1830). On the eastern side the imposing Hotel Russell, built in 1898, dominates (its builders were connected with the company which created RMS Titanic and some of that tragic ship's magnificence can be seen in the impressive ballroom); sadly the sixties-built President Hotel is completely out of keeping. Other past residents include the famous 19th Century architectural partnership of father and son, Philip and Philip Charles Hardwick who lived at number 60. Since 2004, the two buildings on the southern side, at numbers 46 and 47, are occupied by the Huron University USA in London.
In 1998, the London Mathematical Society moved from rooms in Burlington House to De Morgan House, at 57-58 Russell Square, in order to accommodate staff expansion.
In 2002, the square was re-landscaped in a style based on the original early 19th century layout by Humphry Repton (1752-1818), and the cafe in the square was redeveloped. The centrepiece of the new design is a fountain with jets playing directly from the pavement, which have become popular with children in the summer. Managed by London Borough of Camden the freehold of the square remains with the Bedford Estate.
Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square (pronounced "Grove-ner Square") is a large garden square in the exclusive Mayfair district of London, England. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Dukes of Westminster, and takes its name from their surname, "Grosvenor".
Sir Richard Grosvenor, obtained a licence to develop Grosvenor Square and the surrounding streets in 1710, and development is believed to have commenced in around 1721. Grosvenor Square was one of the three or four most fashionable residential addresses in London from its construction until the Second World War, with numerous leading members of the aristocracy in residence.
The early houses were generally of five or seven bays, with basement, three main stories and an attic. Some attempt was made to produce impressive groupings of houses, and Colen Campbell produced a design for a palatial east side to the square featuring thirty Corinthian columns but this was not carried out and in the end most of the houses were built to individual designs. There were mews behind all four sides.
Many of the houses were rebuilt later in the 18th century or during the 19th century, generally acquiring an extra storey when this happened. Number 26 was rebuilt in 1773-74 for the 11th Earl of Derby by Robert Adam, and is regarded as one of the architect's finest works and as a seminal example of how grandeur of effect and sophisticated planning might be achieved on a confined site. It was demolished and rebuilt again in the 1860s.
The central garden, which was originally reserved for the use of the occupants of the houses as was standard in a London square, is now a public park managed by The Royal Parks. Nearly all of the houses were demolished during the 20th century and replaced with blocks of flats in a neo-Georgian style, hotels and embassies. Access to the western side of the square is severely restricted by the very obvious security measures around the U.S. Embassy.
Bond Street
Bond Street is a major shopping street in London which runs through Mayfair from Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. It is one of the principal streets in the West End shopping district and is more upmarket than nearby Regent Street and Oxford Street. It is in the Mayfair district of London, and has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century. Technically "Bond Street" does not exist: The southern section is known as Old Bond Street, and the northern section, which is rather more than half the total length, is known as New Bond Street. This distinction, however, is not generally made in everyday usage.
Bond Street takes its name from Sir Thomas Bond, the head of a syndicate of developers who purchased a Piccadilly mansion called Clarendon House from Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle in 1683 and proceeded to demolish the house and develop the area. They also built nearby Dover Street and Albemarle Street. At that time the house backed onto open fields and the development of the various estates in Mayfair was just getting underway. It moved predominantly from south to north, which accounts for the southern part of the street being "Old" Bond Street, and the Northern half being "New" Bond Street, the latter being added in a second phase as London continued to grow. John Rocque's map of London published in 1746 shows the whole length of Bond Street and all its side streets fully built up.
At one time Bond Street was best known for top end art dealers and antique shops, clustered around the London office of Sotheby's auction house, which has been in Bond Street for over a hundred years, and of the Fine Art Society, present on the street since its foundation in 1876. A few of these remain, but most of the shops are now occupied by fashion boutiques, including branches of most of the leading premium priced designer brands in the world. There are also a few miscellaneous upmarket shops such as jewellers. The street features "Allies", an unusual statue by Lawrence Holofcener of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who are portrayed sitting on a park bench in conversation.
In recent years Sloane Street, which is a mile or so away in Knightsbridge, the other main shopping district in central London, has become a rival to Bond Street, with duplicate branches of many of the top boutiques.
Hans Place
Hans Place, London SW1, England, is a prime residential garden square situated immediately south of Harrods in Knightsbridge.
Hans Place dates from the 1770s, when the architect Henry Holland leased 89 acres from Earl Cadogan and funded the building of his house by laying out a square which he sub-let in building plots. (The octagonal shape of the square is thought to have been modelled on the Place Vendome in Paris). Horwood's maps of 1799 and 1813 confirm that with the exception of Nos. 55-56, all of the lots had been developed by the first edition, and that the final two houses were complete by the second.
The houses were let on 99-year leases, and apart from assumed modernisation from time to time, appear to have remained unchanged during this period. The 1862 Ordnance Survey, for example, shows that none of the houses had been extended over the gardens, and annual directories record good tenancies with no obvious gaps during which major works might have been undertaken.
Jane Austen resided at 23 Hans Place when she stayed in London during the early 19th Century.
Most of the 18th-century houses in Hans Place were substantially rebuilt by Cadogan Estates when new leases were arranged in the late 19th century; (adopting a style that became so closely associated with the district that Osbert Lancaster dubbed it "Pont Street Dutch").
22 Hans Place formed the headquarters of the 1921 Irish Treaty delegation. The delegates were Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton, and Michael Collins; Secretary to the delegation was Robert Erskine Childers who was also Robert Barton's cousin and father of the Fourth President of Ireland Erskine Hamilton Childers. Famously, it was at 22 Hans Place that, at 11.15 PM on December 5th 1921, the delegates made the historic decision to recommend the treaty to the Dail Eireann; the negotiations finally closed with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty at 2.20am on December 6th 1921.
During World War II, Hans Place received bomb damage and substantial repairs were required to many buildings, and where buildings were not repairable new development took place, particularly on the Pavilion Road side.
Hans Place now represents one of the most sought after residential addresses in Knightsbridge. International business executives, and the Super-rich, are particularly attracted to Hans Place because it is the garden square with the closest proximity to Harrods, and the best shopping in Sloane Street, Knightsbridge, and Belgravia.
Hans Place enjoys some of the highest levels of street security in London being situated close to two police facilities serving nearby embassies, luxury hotels, and shopping in Knightsbridge and all of the private security arrangements maintained by, and for, Harrods and its customers.
In the south-east corner at 17 Hans Place is the headmaster's office of Hill House School where HRH Prince Charles and Lily Allen were pupils.
Curzon Street
Curzon Street is located within the exclusive Mayfair district of London. The street is located entirely within the W1J postcode district and is 400 yards to the north west of Green Park tube station. It is within the City of Westminster.
The street is thought to be named after George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe however it is not until after his death that the title of Earl Howe was taken by someone with the last name Curzon. Before this time it was called Mayfair Row.
Curzon Street has been home to various notable members of the peerage. In 1748 a house was built in Curzon Street for the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, called Chesterfield House.The house was demolished in 1937 however the site, Chesterfield Gardens, is a very sought after residence with flats renting from �5,000 per month. Adjacent to the larger house were smaller dwellings, which have served as the London residences for a number of members of the peerage, including Lord Hothfield, the Duke of Grafton, Lord Leconfield, Lady Blessington, Alfred de Rothschild, Lord Blythswood and the Earl of Inchcape. Also to the east was Wharncliffe House, rebuilt in 1750 and renamed for the Countess of Wharncliffe in the late 19th century. It is now part of the Saudi Arabian Embassy.
On the opposite side of the street, until 1894 stood Curzon Chapel, formerly Mayfair Chapel. First erected in 1730 the chapel was the location before the Marriage Act 1753 of various clandestine marriages, including the marriages of the Duke of Chandos and Mrs Anne Jeffrey in 1744, Lord Strange and Mrs Lucy Smith in 1746, Lord Kensington and Rachel Hill in 1749, Sewellis Shirley and Margaret Rolle, widow of the second Earl of Oxford in 1751, the Duke of Hamilton and Miss Gunning in 1752 and of Lord George Bentinck and Mary Davies in 1753.
Other inhabitants of Curzon Street have included Benjamin Disraeli until his death in 1881, Lord Macartney until his death in 1806, George Selwyn MP in 1776, Prince Pierre Soltykoff and Earl Percy.
Kings Road
The Kings Road is a major, well-known street in west London, England.
It runs through Chelsea, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, from Sloane Square in the east (on the border with Belgravia and Knightsbridge) and through the Moore Park Estate on the border of Chelsea and Fulham opposite Stamford Bridge. This links on to the New Kings Road in Fulham which is in the west (this continues to Putney Bridge); its western end is located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
During the hippie and punk eras, it was a major centre for the counterculture, but is now gentrified. It is effectively Chelsea's high street, and is one of the most fashionable shopping streets in London.
Kings Road derives its name from its original function as a private road used by Charles II to travel to Kew. It remained a private royal road until 1830, but people with the right connections were able to obtain a pass to use it. Some of the houses date from the early 18th century. Thomas Arne lived at No. 215 and is believed to have composed "Rule Britannia" there. Ellen Terry lived in the same house from 1904�1920, and is commemorated by a blue plaque.
In 1876, the world's first artificial ice rink, the Glaciarium, opened just off the Kings Road, and later in the year it relocated to a building on the street.
Kings Road was home in the 1960s to the Chelsea Drugstore (originally a chemist, that is to say a pharmacy, with a highly stylized chrome-and-neon soda fountain upstairs, later a public house; more recently the site became a McDonalds) and in the 1970s to Malcolm McLaren's boutique.
Sloane Street
Sloane Street is a street in London which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about half way along. It forms the boundary between the exclusive districts of Knightsbridge, Belgravia, and Chelsea. To the west of the street is Knightsbridge at the northern half of the street, and Chelsea at the southern half. To the east of Sloane Street is Belgravia. Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Hans Sloane, who purchased the surrounding area in 1712. Many of the properties in the street still belong to his descendents the Earls Cadogan, via their company Cadogan Estates.
Sloane Street has long been a fashionable shopping street, especially the Knightsbridge section, which is known informally as Upper Sloane Street. Since the 1990s Sloane Street's status has increased further, and it is now on a par with Bond Street, which has been London's most exclusive shopping street for two centuries. The street has flagship branches for many of the world's most famous brands in fashion.
Sloane Street, along with Sloane Square, also gives its name to "Sloane Rangers", originally applied to the stereotypical kind of young upper class English ladies seen in the area. The expression was roughly the female equivalent to the term "Hooray Henry", used to describe a brash, upper-class young English public school boys, although this term is not geographically restricted and is used all over the UK. During the 1990s, Dubai's ruling Al Maktoum family, led by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, bought most of the properties on the west side of Sloane Street at the Knightsbridge end. The National Bank of Dubai opened its first overseas branch in London to serve the many UAE-based visitors who rent these properties in summer. The Jumeiriah Carlton Tower Hotel is owned by the hotels arm of Dubai Holding Company, which is also controlled by Sheikh Mohammed.
The northern half of the street is in Knightsbridge and is home to a few smart, more modern residential blocks, all with 24 hour porterage, the Cadogan Hotel and Millennium Hotel. Harrods lies next to Hans Place immediately to the east along Basil Street and Hans Crescent, and Lowndes Square lies to the west.
The southern half of the street has much more individual character, with a number of typical Pont Street Dutch style red brick buildings, built in the 19th century by Earl Cadogan, which house elegant apartments. In the most exclusive residential area of the street, which is between Sloane Square and Cadogan Place, some of the residences have remained as whole houses. Properties in this area have sold in early 2007 for in excess of £2,500 per square foot on long leases.
Notable buildings include the Church of the Holy Trinity by the Victorian architect J.D. Sedding and the Royal Danish Embassy designed by Arne Jacobsen.
Pont Street
Pont Street is a fashionable street in Knightsbridge and Belgravia, central London, England (postcode SW1), not far from the Knightsbridge department store Harrods to the north-west. The street crosses Sloane Street in the middle, with Beauchamp Place to the west and Cadogan Place, and Chesham Place, to the east, eventually leading to the very grand Belgrave Square. On the west side Hans Place leads off the street to the north and Cadogan Square to the south.
The well-known actress Lillie Langtry (1852-1929) lived at 21 Pont Street from 1892 to 1897, recorded since 1980 by a blue plaque. The building became part of the Cadogan Hotel in 1895, but she still stayed in her old bedroom even after this; infamously, Oscar Wilde was arrested in room number 118 of the Cadogan Hotel on 6 April 1895.
St Columba's Church in Pont Street was designed in the 1950s by the architect Edward Maufe (1883-1974), who also designed the brick Guildford Cathedral. It is one of the two London congregations of the Church of Scotland. The original St Columba's Church building of 1884 was destroyed during the Blitz of World War II on the night of 10 May 1941.
Portmeirion Pottery had a shop in Pont Street, later to become the pottery's headquarters.
Some twenty years ago, Gary Hersham took over a small business which handled the letting of properties in London's West End. In 1981, Penelope Court, now Head of Residential Sales, joined the company.
The combined talents of Hersham and Court, and a mixture of luck, hard work and personal contacts has resulted in Beauchamp Estates becoming one of the major players in the world of Central London Property.
Beauchamp Estates headquarters is based in Curzon Street, Mayfair, making it centrally located.
Between Hersham and Court, and of course the staff of Beauchamp Estates, a number of other languages is spoken including Russian, Italian, Spanish, German, Hebrew, French and Arabic, enabling our team to communicate and service clients from all corners of the world.
Gary Hersham and Penelope Court have both been at Beauchamp Estates since the early days of the business and have concentrated on building up the investment and development side of the business, as well as the exclusive end of the residential market throughout Central London.
Beauchamp Estates is expert at acquiring unmodernised blocks of apartments and large houses for refurbishment, and have worked closely with many well known developers and PLCs, as well as having sold many properties to Embassies, high net worth individuals both from the home market and abroad, most of the Royal families in the world as well as the "rich and famous".
Much of Beauchamp Estates current business still comes from overseas and our client base includes a wide range of nationalities amongst the investors and individual purchasers.
Many foreigners are attracted to London for a variety of reasons: perceived capital growth, rental investment, holiday home or as a business base. Over the years we have built up an excellent rapport with faces from all over the world and are able to put these people in touch with surveyors, lawyers and accountants, all vetted by ourselves, to advise them in a professional manner on the acquisition of property and legal requirements.
The cost of purchasing a property in London is generally free to the purchaser (except when the purchaser has specifically retained an agent to act for him/her), and apart from legal costs, survey costs and stamp duty, there is no other hidden cost! Please view our current property list.
Beauchamp Estates can also help in advising the purchaser on the financing and funding of the property by means of a mortgage or bank loan.
In my opinion [Nigel McLaren] I would say for the middle market that the people at Douglas and Gordon do their homework.
Douglas and Gordon Estate Agents Revue
Let�s look at the track record. How accurate were we in 2007? At Douglas & Gordon, we stuck our neck out further than anyone else at the beginning of the year with the prediction that "capital values throughout the Prime Central and South West areas serviced by Douglas & Gordon will increase by 15% to 20%". Nobody else was in double figures. In our Autumn Market Report we wrote that &this (increase) has already been achieved�.the volatility of financial markets will affect sentiment, so we do not see prices moving in the final quarter of the year.& The result at the end of the year was an annual average increase in value of property in our area of 15.4%, with there being a marginal fall of 0.07% in the final quarter of 2007.
Douglas and Gordon Estate Agents Preview
So we were spot on in 2007 - one of the advantages of being &at the coal face&. Can we repeat this in 2008? What are the tea leaves telling us? We were more bullish than our competitors in 2007 because we knew that demand at the beginning of the year was huge and that supply could never match it. At the beginning of 2008, with the Northern Rock fiasco and sub-prime crisis, sentiment is clearly very different. Applicant registrations in the last 3 months of 2007 were 38% down on the same period in 2006. The amount of property available to sell this January is 85% greater than a year ago. Looking at these broad statistics, you might conclude that, in the words of one of our illustrious competitors, &a seller�s market has been replaced very quickly by a buyer�s market&. We know what a seller's market looks like � several buyers for each property, bidding up the price and usually resulting in sealed bids at a level way over asking price. A buyer's market is one where each buyer has a multitude of offers on several different properties, all at prices that he or she is comfortable to pay. That is not the reality in early 2008.
Though buyer applications are down, the ratio of properties available to applicants is still around 10 (from a peak of 28). In global terms, this still means that there are significantly more buyers than properties available. There is certainly not a glut of property on the market, but in fact almost exactly the same number of properties that are coming on the market as 12 months ago. The difference is that they are not selling as quickly, as the froth has come out of the market. The underlying shortage of property, particularly property that can be defined as "prime" in terms of location, set against continued demand, albeit not at the level of last year, means that prices will hold up. We do not see much movement in the first 6 months of the year, but confident that all those clever bankers who have tricked each other with a monumental game of pass the sub-prime parcel will sort it out, we expect to see steady growth in the second half of the year with values ending the year at least 5% ahead.
With capital value increases having plateaued in 2007, rents continued to move up, taking average rental values 11.1% above January 2007. Supply of property on the rental market is about the same as it was 12 months ago. Demand in terms of applicant registrations is down, but likely to be sustained by those buyers who read the papers and are trying to anticipate significant falls in sale values. It seems inevitable that there will be some job losses in the City, and this may affect the balance. As with the sales market, there will be no "glut" of property to let. Many landlords sensing a peak in 2007 sold their properties, and there is an increasing tendency amongst foreign buyers to acquire London property for occupation and to hold rather than to let out.
As a result of this, we would expect gross yields to hold up in the 4.5% to 5% range.
I [Nigel McLaren] believe that just about sums up good postcodes in London.
1869-1996
Hamptons had been established since 1869 when, in premises on Pall Mall East shared with the National Gallery, the estate agency arm of Hamptons was launched with eight staff under the direction of George and W. Powell Hampton. A bomb later destroyed the premises during the Blitz in 1940 and the site is now the Sainsbury Wing of the Gallery.
The firm's history really began some 39 years earlier when their father, William Hampton, opened a shop in Cranbourn Street just off Leicester Square for the sale of furniture. In 1890 a fire broke out which almost entirely destroyed the estate office's records. A new estate office had to be provided and the staff were transferred to offices at 1 Cockspur Street. A limited company was formed with George Hampton as Chairman and Managing Director and in 1900 a satellite office was opened on Wimbledon Common.
In 1920, Hampton & Sons, Estate Agents & Auctioneers, moved to 20 St James' Square, London W.1. Hamptons handled a number of notable auctions, including that of the Michelham Collection in 1926, when the record auction price of 74,000 guineas was achieved for Sir T. Lawrence's painting "Pinkie". The sale of a number of world famous liners and their contents was conducted by Hamptons, including that of the Mauritania, some of whose fine panelling still adorns the walls of Hamptons St James' and Wimbledon offices. The sale of the Cameroons, a group of islands off West Africa was successfully achieved shortly after the First World War.
In 1936 the Estate Office moved to the former French Embassy building on Arlington Street, St James' and 21 years later the Estate Agency was separated from the parent company when a partnership was formed by the founder's grandson.
The early 1980's saw an expansion of the business under the ownership of British and Commonwealth when a number of local businesses in the South of England were brought under the Hamptons brand name. Included amongst these were Christopher Rowland, Giddy & Giddy, Messenger May Baverstock and Pocock & Lear. In 1991 Hamptons was bought by Bristol & West Building Society.
1996-2005
In February 1996 Hamptons was purchased by Cluttons London Residential Agency (CLRA). CLRA had been formed in 1992 by Robin Paterson after the acquisition of several Barnard Marcus London Offices and an office in Hong Kong. With funding from NatWest Ventures and Marco Polo Developments, a Singapore-based property investment company, CLRA opened new offices in London and Singapore over the next four years.
2005
In April 2005 Wheelock Properties (Singapore) Ltd., formerly known as Marco Polo Developments, made an offer which resulted in its owning the entire issued share capital of Hamptons Group Ltd. David Lawrence, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Wheelock Properties (Singapore) Ltd Company and a Director of Hamptons, became Executive Chairman of Hamptons Group Ltd following the acquisition.
2006
In August 2006 Emaar Properties, one of the world�s largest real estate companies, acquired Hamptons International. The acquisition formed an important part of Emaar's strategic plan to expand its global operation to include Europe.
Hamptons Estates LimitedCompany Number: 2036215Registered Office: 32 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, London W1K 2HJ.
Although Hamptons have been purchased in my opinion they are one of the top estate agents in London and like any others listed are trustworthy and extremely professional.
In my opinion [Nigel McLaren] Foxtons are most definitely one of the key players within the London Property market, they turnover a lot of properties, I see some negative press but in relation to the volume it must be a very small percent, they look good and are well run.
Founded in 1981, Foxtons started life as a two-person agency in Notting Hill. Over the years they are proud to have become London's leading property services company. Innovation is key to every area of our business which is built on exceeding clients' expectations. Our longer opening hours and "cafe-style" high street offices buck industry trends and offer professional service on a more friendly level.
Our business is the sale and letting of quality property. They understand the unique pressures of living in this busy, vibrant capital and are committed to delivering results. Everything they do says something about the type of company they are - from the quality of our publications to the enthusiasm of our staff.
they are operating within the most lucrative property market in the UK, if not the world. Foxtons recently opened cafe-style offices in Kingston, Shoreditch, Canary Wharf and Guildford and added a further seven Surrey operations to the existing portfolio. This, combined with the continued refurbishment of existing offices to the renowned cafe-style, continues the ambitious and on-going expansion of Foxtons.
Hard facts:-
More than 40,000 clients choose Foxtons each year to sell or rent their property
Foxtons.co.uk was voted the UK's best website and showcases thousands of instructions for sale or to let. It is one of the only property websites to feature floorplans, 360 degree virtual tours, numerous colour photographs, location maps, aerial views and full colour brochures for thousands of properties, regardless of price.
£7 million is allocated to marketing our clients' properties each year. This includes our own publication, Area Magazine, as well as marketing in a wide selection of other London focused newspapers and magazines, such as the Evening Standard, Sunday Times, the London Magazine, Fabric and London Property News
they often undergo radio advertising campaigns, primarily aimed at encouraging potential purchasers to view our clients' properties on Foxtons.co.uk. Radio stations included are Magic, Capital and other targeted London stations. The rationale for using radio marketing is that they are able to reach a vast audience in a concentrated geographic area. This media is proven to have maximum impact.
they only employ exceptional individuals. Our front line personnel and dedicated support staff enable us to personally carry out more than 7,000 property viewings per week, thousands of which are during evenings and at weekends.
With a history dating back to 1835, Winkworth is a proven expert within the UK property market and beyond.
In my opinion[Nigel McLaren] Winkworth even though franchised are a top quality agent.
Over 25 years ago, Winkworth broke new ground by becoming the first franchised estate agency group in the UK. Our ultimate goal was to revolutionise the estate agency industry and maximise the benefits to our clients. This is something that they have undoubtedly achieved and that many have attempted to replicate.
In the early days, the people at Winkworth visualised a highly communicative network of local offices working together to provide an unrivalled service.
Through sheer hard work and a passionate belief in our core values, this has been done. But, our success is something that they have never taken for granted, and they are constantly looking at ways to ever-improve our service to you as a group, through training, information technology, marketing and PR.
Winkworth specialises in all residential property, from first-time buyer to £multi million homes. Our clients benefit from our numerous years of experience and local expertise, which means that they can sell properties within any market condition.
Goldschmidt & Howland are widely regarded as the foremost, privately owned residential estate agents in the area and can trace its roots to the early 1880's when the original partnership of Physick & Lowe was founded in Portman Square.
In 1888 the transformation of "Hampstead in Middlesex" to "Hampstead in London" became reality when Heath Street was extended and Fitzjohns Avenue created across green fields to provide better access to the West End for the expanding population of North West London. In November that year Physick & Lowe obtained their enviable premises at 15 Heath Street, on the corner with Church Row.
In 1894 a bright young man called Louis Goldschmidt joined the firm as Manager, rising to the partnership in 1900. At about this time, George Howland, who had joined the original business in Portman Square some years earlier, also rose to the partnership when the style of the firm became as it is now known, Goldschmidt & Howland.
Mayfair
Mayfair is the West End at its most swanky. Protected from the chaos of Soho to the east by the grand swathe of Regent Street it still earns its place as the last and most expensive stop on the Monopoly board by boasting the capitals most luxurious hotels, the hautest couture and cuisine, and some of its wealthiest residents. Unbelievably, people of more modest means do still live here, although the daytime and early evening population consists largely of itinerant office workers, business people and tourists.
London's most moneyed districts hide a wealth of delights. Located in the very heart of London, Mayfair has a unique elegance and style. The grand and imposing architecture of Mayfair was built over three centuries, and confirms the position of this location as a favorite haunt of the very cream of London's society. Mayfair is big, and has its quiet corners and districts of bustle. As a broad generalization, the further west, the quieter and smarter.
Mayfair now denotes the larger area bounded on the north by Oxford Street, on the east by Regent Street, on the south by Piccadilly and on the west by Park Lane. It takes its name from the fair, which was in 1686-8 transferred from the overcrowded Hay Market to Great Brookfield, and which until its suppression in the mid 18th century was held here every year from 1 May for 15 days. In the 18th Century a colossal expansion of the built up area shifted the centre of gravity of aristocratic London westward from hither to fashionable Covent Garden and Soho. But unlike these two declining areas, Mayfair has always retained its social cachet, and today a good address there is more sought after than ever.
The Northeast corner, around Hanover Square, is among the oldest parts of Mayfair - the square dates from 1715 - but is today mostly commercial, with offices and shops spilling out from Oxford St. and New Bond Street.
Jackson Stopp and Staffs
Market resilience reflects basic fundamentals
Healthy markets tend to be predictable and thus dull. This does not make for good newspaper copy, but it does help those deciding whether or not to buy and sell. Right across our network of offices, for example, supply and demand for property has followed a remarkably consistent pattern over recent years, varying by just a few percentage points, year on year, from one month to the next. Given that this has involved a constant shortage of supply, the result has been entirely predictable: rising values (in the case of our sales, by anything from 20% to over 80% over the last three years, varying from area to area).
This has continued to be the case despite higher interest rates, partly because for many buyers of the top end properties which we handle, interest rates compete for influence with many other economic factors. "Hot at the top" has been the order of the day and even recent stock market volatility has yet to impinge much upon the dazzling demand for the very best country houses. At less glamorous levels, the prospect of large mortgage payments has begun to take effect, but not to the degree some expected. The days when it might have been worth a seller "having a go" at a clearly excessive price might be gone, but for every would-be buyer who says he or she cannot afford a correctly priced property, there is one or more who can. Again, this reflects surplus demand. Our government has made it clear that it wishes to address the situation, but measures put forward such as interest free loans for a deposit, or cheaper long-term fixed rate mortgages, will simply increase the ability of first time buyers to pay and so push up prices even further.
Country rentals
Nor, as some have mooted, is a larger private rental sector an answer, as all of the supply for it would come from the same "pool" (unless the government implements a threat to help councils use existing legislation to take possession of the estimated 150,000 private properties left empty for two years or more). Also, it remains true that the British prefer to buy. Hence the more active country rental departments run by Jackson-Stops & Staff tend to be in places such as Sevenoaks and Northampton, where demand from senior overseas expatriate executives is strong (in Sevenoaks, most are City commuters; in Northampton, it is the financial and motor racing / engineering sectors that provide the international draw).
HIPs and supply
The extension of Home Information Packs to embrace three, as well as four bedroom houses represents a huge increase in its scope � and quite a gamble for the DCLG. It remains a surprise as to how sufficient Energy Inspectors could have become available in just one month. Thus far, the legislation has had little impact but it does create a deliberate barrier to entry to deter "less than fully committed" sellers � the majority of whom, in our experience, went on to sell. HIPs thus restrict supply, though it will probably prove impossible to identify to what extent. More positively, the cost of a HIP is now lower than expected (circa £400) and, in our case at least, the whole thing is swiftly prepared by one firm. Indeed, whilst it is something we would always advise our clients to do from the outset, for registered freeholds there is rarely a need to instruct your solicitor until a sale is agreed. So it is not a very high barrier to entry.
NIMBYs and supply
It is only by increasing the supply of housing that long term affordability issues will be properly addressed. As a result, it looks increasingly likely that planning rules will be relaxed, allowing previously inconceivable development to go ahead. If so, this will inevitably arouse accusations that local residents who object are "NIMBYs" wishing to "preserve villages in aspic". There may be something in this, but the ironic thing is that many of the small country cottages we sell were originally built as inexpensive homes for farm labourers. If equally attractive, modern counterparts could be built today, NIMBY opposition might dissipate, potentially improving supply to the point at which current pressures ease.