Craven Hill Gardens is a
classical, Victorian, residential garden estate which has two small
garden squares
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...
, the green subset of
squares in London
Squares have long been a feature of London and come in numerous identifiable forms. The landscaping spectrum of squares stretches from those with more hardscape, constituting town squares (also known as city squares)—to those with communal gard ...
. It is in
Bayswater
Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...
, in its
Lancaster Gate
Lancaster Gate is a mid-19th century development in the Bayswater district of central London, immediately to the north of Kensington Gardens. It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them openi ...
neighbourhood, south-west of contemporary
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
of which those districts were once part. It is made up of four rows of residential buildings lining its three streets, and eastern returns, between 160 and 250 metres north of
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
. The western return of this street configuration is partly
Leinster Gardens and partly named Leinster Terrace.
Numbers 13–23, the higher numbers of Craven Hill – a continuation street – face its larger private garden, one block of which is a listed building. A 1960s block known as Corringham forms its second architecturally exceptional building and has a large private garden, the secondary garden. Both gardens have trees surrounding. The estate was a semi-rural possession of the
Lords Craven in the 18th century.
Location and history
In fields west of the hamlet Bayswater (or Bayard's watering place as a text of 1380 first records) were the buildings of Upton farm, a few hundred yards back from the highway to
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
at the end of a tree-lined lane, which
William Craven, 3rd Baron Craven
William Craven, 3rd Baron Craven (1700 – 10 August 1739) was an English nobleman.
He inherited his father's title and estates at age eleven and made his home at Hamstead Marshall in Berkshire. He was educated in 1716 at St. John's College, C ...
bought in 1733.
[ In 1746 two buildings stood near the road east of the Bayswater rivulet and three on the west side.][ The lane still led through fields, to Lord Craven's early pest house, east of which were two more buildings, presumably barns, beside the rivulet. The farm in 1742 was 'intended to be called Craven Hill'.][ Dwellings had replaced the pest house here, where publisher Edward Orme of Bond Street bought the lease of a house in 1811.][ Artistic and literary figures were attracted to a district which was then semi-rural.][ In 1834, poet ]Sarah Flower Adams
Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (or Sally Adams) (22 February 1805 – 14 August 1848) was an English poet and hymnwriter. A selection of hymns she wrote, published by William Johnson Fox, included her best-known one, "Nearer, My God, to Thee", report ...
(1805-48), moved with her husband to 5 Craven Hill, where they were soon followed by the author and politician William Johnson Fox
William Johnson Fox (1 March 1786 – 3 June 1864) was an English Unitarian minister, politician, and political orator.
Early life
Fox was born at Uggeshall Farm, Wrentham, near Southwold, Suffolk on 1 March 1786. His parents were strict Calvi ...
(1786-1864) and his housekeeper the composer Eliza Flower
Eliza Flower (1803 – 12 December 1846) was a British musician and composer. In addition to her own work, Flower became known for her friendships including those with William Johnson Fox, Robert Browning, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor.
B ...
.[T F T Baker, Diane K Bolton and Patricia E C Croot, 'Paddington: Bayswater', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9, Hampstead, Paddington, ed. C R Elrington (London, 1989), pp. 204-212. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol9/pp204-212]
By 1889, the wealthy southern newly made parish, Bayswater, was among an unbroken string of gold-coloured neighbourhoods by Hyde Park — documented in Booth's poverty map as socially distinct from the generally low-to-mid income central, neighbouring heartland, of what was left of Paddington. Lancaster Gate East and West wards one of which contains the area, created in 1901, had initially 2.15 per cent and 2.58 of their inhabitants overcrowded, compared with 32.76 per cent in Church ward around Paddington Green.[
In 1965 a change took place in the local authority (borough) of Craven Hill Gardens: the ]City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...
engulfed the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington
Paddington was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Boar ...
, an identical area to the ancient parish of Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
that included and was, historically, the description of the area.[
]
Layout
The address forms two half-green rectangles whose remainder and surrounds are Victorian-built properties in tall, long terraces with a mixture of exposed ornamental brickwork, stone facings and many white or cream stucco fronts (façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...
s), whether in part or whole. Their use is as private apartments, hotels and international consulate/embassy and corporate lodgings.
Craven Hill Gardens forms four rows of buildings numbered consecutively 1 to 42, one row of which is Corringham (nos 13–15).
;Notable buildings
Two of its terraces are listed buildings
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
:
*One is free-standing Corringham (nos 13–15), laid out by Kenneth Frampton
Kenneth Brian Frampton (born 20 November 1930) is a British architect, critic and historian. He is the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, New York. He has be ...
(born 1930, in later life, Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
) behind which is the secondary private garden.
*21-23 Craven Hill marks the highest-numbered end of that address which then becomes the briefer, central arm of Craven Hill Gardens. It faces the primary private garden.
The Hempel Hotel was on the street.
Notable residents
* John William Donaldson
John William Donaldson (7 June 1811 – 10 February 1861) was an English academic and writer in Greek classics, a philologist and a biblical critic.
He was born in London, and was educated at University College, London, and Trinity College, Cambr ...
(d.1861) briefly a headmaster and later tutor at Cambridge noted for his works on classical texts especially collating and promoting the surviving fragments of the Book of Jashar
The Book of Jasher (also spelled Jashar; he, סֵפֶר הַיׇּשׇׁר ), which means the Book of the Upright or the Book of the Just Man, is a book mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, often interpreted as a lost non-canonical book. Numerous forg ...
; work in grammar and two classical odes. Usually resident at Cambridge with his second wife, died while expected to be in London as examiner at the University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. At 21 Craven Hill, his mother's house.[Townend, Peter. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 105th edition. London, U.K.: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1970. at page 816]
See also
* Queensway
* Leinster Gardens
Leinster Gardens is a street in Bayswater, London. It is lined with tall, ornate, mid-Victorian terraced houses, many of which are listed buildings.
Layout
Leinster Gardens is mostly made up of a half-lined avenue lined with tall, ornate, m ...
* Lancaster Gate
Lancaster Gate is a mid-19th century development in the Bayswater district of central London, immediately to the north of Kensington Gardens. It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them openi ...
External links
*
References
{{reflist
Squares in the City of Westminster
Streets in the City of Westminster
Communal gardens
Garden squares in London