Notting Hill Living
Lansdowne Crescent
This road was named after Lord Lansdowne, a prominent member of the House of Lords when the Ladbroke Estate was being developed.
Most of Lansdowne Crescent was land owned by J W Ladbroke and he entered into a building agreement with Richard Roy for construction of the houses. Roy was the overall developer but he entered into separate agreements for construction of the houses with builders he chose. The leases were then granted direct to the builders. Work in Lansdowne Crescent began in 1844 and the houses were generally completed by 1846.
Nos. 2-18 are the houses on the inner side of the crescent. Joshua Higgs and Son of Davies Street, near Berkeley Square, built Nos. 2-4. Nos. 5-8 were built by William Reynolds, who also built Nos. 13-18. (No. 18 has since been demolished.). Nos. 9-12 were constructed by J W Bridger of Chigwell.
On the outer side of the crescent, work began at much the same time on Nos. 42-44, which were also built by Reynolds. (No. 42 has since been demolished).
The north part of the outer side of the crescent was owned by Stephen Phillips. Work only began there in about 1860 when he granted leases to Henry Wyatt, an architect from Munster Square. Wyatt built Nos. 19-38 which are four storey bow fronted stucco-faced houses. They have porches supported by Corinthian columns, with metal balustraded balconies above, outside the first-floor windows.
