Grosvenor Gardens House is a
Grade II-listed mansion block at 23–47
Grosvenor Gardens
Grosvenor Gardens is the name given to two triangular parks in Belgravia, London, faced on their western and eastern sides by streets of the same name. Both roads run roughly north to south from Hobart Place and Grosvenor Place to Buckingham ...
, Belgravia, London.
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother may have been born there in 1900.
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...
was born there in 1910, and
William Henry Blackmore
William Henry Blackmore (2 August 1827 – 12 April 1878) was an English lawyer who gained a fortune by exploiting a large social network as an investment promoter. He used his fortune for philanthropy, primarily centred on his interest in Native ...
killed himself there in 1878. As of March 2017, the building is the subject of a £132-million High Court trial for damages brought against
Christian and Nick Candy.
History
Grosvenor Gardens House was built in about 1868 by the architect
Thomas Cundy III in the
French Renaissance
The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...
style.
It was originally called Belgrave Mansions, and when it was finished in 1868, it was London's first
serviced apartment
Short-term rental describes furnished self-contained apartments that are rented for short periods of time, usually by the month as opposed to annual rentals in the unfurnished apartment rental market. They are seen as an alternative to hotels. "Sh ...
block.
It was converted into a hotel in the 1920s, and then into offices in the 1930s.
In 1878,
William Henry Blackmore
William Henry Blackmore (2 August 1827 – 12 April 1878) was an English lawyer who gained a fortune by exploiting a large social network as an investment promoter. He used his fortune for philanthropy, primarily centred on his interest in Native ...
(1827–1878), killed himself in his study at Belgrave Mansions.
In 2011, the full street block was purchased by Oakvest, and in 2013 Westminster City Council granted
planning permission
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...
for conversion into 42 luxury flats, subject to a £7.1 million financial contribution to the Council's
affordable housing
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...
fund.
Notable residents
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's 1900 birthplace remains uncertain, and Belgrave Mansions is one of the leading contenders, in a flat rented by her paternal grandparents and which her parents
Lord Glamis
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
and
Lady Glamis stayed in when in London.
Notable residents have included the actor
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...
, who was born there in 1910, as well as William Adolph Baillie-Grohman, the Austrian adventurer, writer and big game hunter.
Lieutenant General Sir Lewis Pelly (1825–1892), the army officer and member of Parliament, lived there.
Court case
As of March 2017, the building is at the centre of a £132-million High Court trial for damages brought against
Christian and Nick Candy by the entrepreneur
Mark Holyoake.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosvenor Gardens House
Belgravia
Apartment buildings in London
Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster