Ovington Square is a garden square in central London's Knightsbridge district. It lies between Brompton Road to the north-west (reached via

Ovington Gardens Ovington may refer to: Places In England: * Ovington, County Durham * Ovington, Essex * Ovington, Hampshire * Ovington, Norfolk * Ovington, Northumberland People with the surname * John Ovington (1653–1731), an English priest * Earle Ovington, ...

) and Walton Street to the south-east.

History

The freehold property on which the square is built was owned by Frederick, Baron von Zandt of Würzburg, Germany, and after his death was developed in 1844 by his widow, Elizabeth Standerwick, of Ovington House in Hampshire. The houses surrounding the green were built from 1844 to 1850 by W.W. Pocock. The south side of the square, 1–35, and number 34 on the north side are

grade II listed 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 ...

, as are 37–43 and 36–42 on the road into the square. The green itself was secured soon after development, protected under the 1851 Garden Square Act and maintained under the Kensington Improvement Act 1851. Responsibility for the garden passed to Trustees following a settlement made by Sir John Swinnerton Dyer in 1912.

Notable buildings and residents

* #10 was home to the London Buddhist Vihara from 1955 to 1964, when it moved to Heathfield Gardens,

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

. * The six-storey apartment building #22–26 was built in 1957, and the architect was Walter Segal. Pevsner called it "a Morris Traveller parked among grander saloons". In the 1990s, the Twentieth Century Society recommended it for listed building status, but this was rejected. * #10

Frederic Chapman Frederic Chapman (1823 – 1 March 1895) was a publisher of the Victorian era who became a partner in Chapman & Hall, who published the works of Charles Dickens and Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, among others. Early years Fr ...

(1823–1895), publisher, died at his home there * #17 Birthplace of

Vera Bate Lombardi Vera Bate Lombardi (born Vera Nina Arkwright, 11 August 1883 – 22 May 1948) was a socialite and close associate of Coco Chanel and the mother of Bridget Bate Tichenor. A British citizen at birth, she became a citizen of the United States afte ...

(1883–1948), socialite * #18 Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet, of Brayton (1829–1906), temperance campaigner and radical politician died at his home there * #27 Headquarters of the Beatles' Apple Corps and Harrisongs companies * Arthur Grote (1814–1886), colonial administrator, died at his home there * Jane Wilde lived there from 1879, as did briefly her son,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

References

External links

{{Coord, 51, 29, 49, N, 0, 9, 54, W, scale:1563_region:GB, display=title Ovington Square Knightsbridge Garden squares in London Communal gardens Houses completed in 1850 Grade II listed houses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea