Notting Hill Living
Ladbroke Square
Ladbroke Square is not much of a square – it is just one straight street. In fact, it only has houses along the southern side of it.
No. 1, on the corner of Ladbroke Grove, was built as a separate house in 1851 by W H Rowlings from Theobalds Road. There is then a range of houses from Nos. 4-22, which runs to the corner of Ladbroke Terrace. Nos. 20-22 were built in 1844 by John Brown, a St Marylebone builder, and Nos. 4-17 were built in 1856 to 60 by William Wheeler.
On the other side of Ladbroke Terrace is a range of houses, Nos. 23-47, filling the frontage to the corner with Kensington Park Road. In the early 1840s, Jacob Connop owned the lease on this part of the estate, which had been part of Whyte’s racecourse. In 1843, Connop arranged for J W Ladbroke to grant leases of the plots of Nos. 23-27 Ladbroke Square to his solicitor, William Parkin. He may have been trying his hand at speculative building on his own account or it may have been security for a loan to Connop. In 1844, the next group, Nos. 28-31, were leased to C H Grove, another solicitor, at Connop’s request and possibly also as security for loans. Nos. 33-37 went to Connop’s architect, John Stevens. No. 38 was granted by Ladbroke direct to Henry Monson, a St Marylebone builder, in 1846, and Nos. 39-47 were granted to J T Crossthwaite, from Addiscombe.
