Lauderdale Mansions South is a block of 142

apartment 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 ma ...

s in Lauderdale Road,

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

W9. Built in 1897, Lauderdale Mansions South was the first of a swathe of mansion flat buildings for the middle classes that spread across central Maida Vale in the 1897–1907 period. The building's freehold company (in which all flat owners have a share) is unusual in that it is believed to be the only one in the UK whose constitution specifies a ‘first-past-the-post’ secret ballot for electing directors, with any shareholder being entitled to stand for election. Lauderdale Mansions South is divided into 15 blocks, each with its own entrance hall leading to 8–14 flats. Behind the building lies a communal garden in which there is also a meeting room for residents housed in a former Boiler House. The basement areas include storage units and bicycle storage areas. Most apartments in the building are 950 to . The upper floor flats have balconies overlooking Lauderdale Road, while lower ground floor flats back on to the communal garden. For most of the 20th century the freehold of Lauderdale Mansions South was owned by the

Church Commissioners The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Eccle ...

, the property investment arm of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. But in 1989 the freehold was sold to the flat owners. The freehold company is Manyplans Ltd, a subsidiary of Lauderdale Mansions (South) Ltd. The articles of association are also unusual for companies of this type in that they specify that board meetings should be open to shareholder observers, and that board minutes should be made available to shareholders. Sir

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (194 ...

, whose best-known screen roles included playing eight different characters in ''

Kind Hearts and Coronets ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' is a 1949 British crime black comedy film. It features Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Alec Guinness; Guinness plays nine characters. The plot is loosely based on the novel ''Israel Rank: The Auto ...

'', Colonel Nicholson in ''

The Bridge on the River Kwai ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, th ...

'' and

Obi-Wan Kenobi Obi-Wan Kenobi () is a fictional Character (arts), character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Within the Star Wars original trilogy, original trilogy, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master as a supporting character and is portrayed by English actor Alec Guinn ...

in the original ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' trilogy, was born in a ground-floor flat in the building on 2 April 1914. More recent former residents of Lauderdale Mansions South have included Kathryn Flett, Observer TV critic and star of the BBC’s ''Grumpy Old Women'' series, and

Mary McCartney Mary Anna McCartney (born 28 August 1969) is a British photographer, documentary filmmaker, cookbook author, and Global Ambassador for Meat Free Monday. She is also the host for the Discovery+/Food Network vegan cooking show, ''Mary McCartney S ...

, celebrity photographer and daughter of

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

and

Linda McCartney Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...

. In 2009, Lauderdale Mansions South was featured in Channel 4 television's ''The Home Show''.

References

*“Dial ‘M’ for Maida Vale” by Kevin O’Sullivan, published by City of Westminster Archives *“St John’s Wood and Maida Vale Past”, by Richard Tames (published by Historical Publications) *www.British-history.ac.uk *www.londontelevisionarchive.com/htdocs/films.html

External links

Building's website
{{coord , 51, 31, 38, N, 0, 11, 15, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Maida Vale