Notting Hill Living
Kensington Park Gardens
This was carved up by David Ramsay, William Drew, and Charles Blake, each of whom had other property and building interests in the area, and who seemed to have worked together to some extent on this part of the development.
In 1949-50 Felix Ladbroke, the freeholder, entered into a building agreement with Drew, to allow him to construct Nos. 1-9 on the south side. (No. 5 has since been demolished.) No. 7 was the first house in England to use electricity, when it was occupied by a scientist, William Crookes, in 1880. The houses were built in groups of three and they are four storeys high. They were built as brick-faced houses with a profusion of stuccoed pilasters. The houses have segmental bows which rise through all storeys.
Nos. 10-22 - the main part of that southern range – were taken by Ramsay for building in 1853 and his houses were designed by Thomas Allom. The houses have wider frontages and were built with four main storeys above a basement. The facades are stuccoed and elaborately decorated with every conceivable elaboration. Parts were built forward or back from the building line in a complicated pattern.
From 1852 onwards, Blake took the whole of the northern side of Kensington Park Gardens from Ladbroke. He did a deal with Ramsay who took over the building of Nos. 26-31 and 36- 47. (Nos. 26 and 28-30 were completed by J D Cowland.) Blake himself built Nos. 24, 25, and 32-35. He kept No. 24 as his own private residence. Thomas Allom designed all these houses.
