William Chadwick built extensively in Southwark in the 1820s and in the City and Kensal Green in the 1830s.
His first involvement in the Ladbroke estate was to build stables and fencing for John Whyte’s Hippodrome racecourse from 1836 onwards. Whyte went bust in 1841 still owing Chadwick money. But fortunately for Chadwick he had taken the precaution of having the debt secured on the land. So when Connop and Duncan acquired the land from Whyte, they also took over the debt. Connop and Duncan went bankrupt in turn. But Chadwick’s debt was still protected and in 1843 he sold it to Charles Henry Blake, who was ultimately to play a big part on the estate.
Chadwick also separately entered into a building agreement with J W Ladbroke to develop 7 acres of land around the junction of Ladbroke Road and Kensington Park Road. By 1848 he had built Nos. 1-11 (odd) and Nos. 14-18 (even) Ladbroke Road, Nos. 32-38 (even) Kensington Park Road, and Nos. 13-33 (odd) Pembridge Road. These houses provided enough ground rent to fulfil Chadwick’s commitment to Ladbroke, and leases of further houses would be at a peppercorn. So from 1848 Chadwick sold rights to parts of the remaining land to other builders, such as William Wheeler, and arranged for Ladbroke to grant the leases direct to them in many cases.
Building in Notting Hill was speculative. Due to the frequent economic downturns, many builders went bankrupt. But Chadwick’s experience and caution saw him through. Connop had committed himself to spending £100,000 and went bankrupt as a result. Chadwick limited his commitment to spending £4,000 on building houses and turned a profit as a result.