Basil Street, originally known as North Street, is a street in London's

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

. It was laid out in the second half of the eighteenth century on land belonging to Lord Cadogan and runs between

Sloane Street Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along. History Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...

in the north and the junction of Walton Place and Hans Road in the south. It is joined on its east side by Pavilion Road and Rysbrack Street and crossed by

Hans Crescent Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

. Architecturally, it is notable for the design of its blocks of mansion flats. Fashion designer

Charles Creed Charles Southey Creed (25 May 1909 – 17 July 1966) was a British fashion designer. Born into the longstanding tailoring house of Henry Creed & Company in Paris, he launched his eponymous label in London in 1946. The first elected member of ...

had his premises there after the war and in the 1960s, the first meetings that led to ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' were held at a flat in the street.

History

Basil Street was laid out in the second half of the eighteenth century on land belonging to Lord Cadogan when it was named North Street. It was well developed by the time of

Richard Horwood Richard Horwood (1757/8 – 3 October 1803) was a surveyor and cartographer. He is mainly remembered for his large-scale plan of London and its suburbs published in 32 sheets between 1792 and 1799. He also published a plan of Liverpool in six she ...

's map of 1794.Brompton Road: South side.
British History Online. Retrieved 15 October 2021. It retained the name North Street until the start of the twentieth century when it was renamed Basil Street, the origins of which name are unknown.

Buildings (north to south)

16 Basil Street was purpose built as Knightsbridge fire station for the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...

, and operated as such from 1907 until it closed in 2014. It was built in a "restrained free Baroque style", and the lead architects were Owen Fleming and

Charles Winmill Charles Canning Winmill FRIBA (14 January 1865 – 11 January 1945) was an English architect working in the Arts and Crafts style during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent much of his career in the London County Council's architec ...

, who had previously worked for the LCC Housing Department. The upper floors have been converted to residential use. The street was noted by Cherry and Pevsner for its "exuberant 1890s mansion flats sporting flurries of curvaceous bows and balconies". Lincoln House, a pair of identical

mansion blocks An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

on the west side designed in 1903 by John A. Gill Knight for Harry Johnson, are grade II listed with Historic England. They were built in 1915-16 and are noted for their "idiosyncratic design, illustrative of the best of mansion block architecture in the period". They were originally one block but were sub-divided by J. Hunt in 1947 following damage during the Second World War. The Capital Hotel, a small 5-star hotel, along with

The Capital Restaurant The Capital Restaurant was a restaurant located in the Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, England. The restaurant was established in 1971 and earned a star from the Michelin Guide under chefs Richard Shepherd and Brian Turner. Other notabl ...

are located at 22–24 Basil Street and further south the Embassy of Colombia is located on the corner of

and Basil Street. The west side of the southern end of Basil Street below Hans Crescent is entirely taken up by the rear of the

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

department store. Opposite Harrods, there is an underground car park, and in October 2021 a space there was listed for sale at £250,000 for an 82-year lease with £780 a year in service charges.

Former residents

Fashion designer

was at 31 Basil Street after the Second World War, having escaped the German occupation of Paris by hours. He had his premises there until his death in 1966. They were masculine in tone, with dark panelling on the walls and displays of Napoleonic toy soldiers (Creed had a fine collection that was later to be the subject of a British Pathé film). The Basil Street Hotel was at 8 Basil Street for many years before it was sold and closed in September 2005. The biographer

Michael Holroyd Sir Michael de Courcy Fraser Holroyd (born 27 August 1935) is an English biographer. Early life and education Holroyd was born in London, the son of Basil de Courcy Fraser Holroyd (a descendant of Sir George Sowley Holroyd, Justice of the King' ...

, born in 1935, entitled his memoirs ''Basil Street Blues'', based on his having been conceived there. According to the ''Rough Guide to London'' it had " a variety of idiosynchratically decorated rooms" and past guests included

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

during the Second World War.Humphreys, Rob. (2003)
Rough Guide to London
'. 5th edition. London: Rough Guides. p. 451. ISBN 9781843530930 From 1968,

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

and his then wife

Connie Booth Connie Booth (born 2 December 1940) is an American-born actress and writer. She has appeared in several British television programmes and films, including her role as Polly Sherman on BBC Two's ''Fawlty Towers'', which she co-wrote with her the ...

lived at Flat 28, Lincoln House, a

mansion block An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are man ...

in the street.John Cleese opens our Basil Street project.
Thames & Newcastle. Retrieved 12 October 2021. The earliest meetings that led to ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...

'' were held in the flat, in early May 1969. Cleese practised " silly walks" in the corridor, leading one neighbour to question him about the strange noises.

References

External links

{{commons category, Basil Street, London
Basil Street at theundergroundmap.com
Streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Knightsbridge