Park House, at 7–11

Onslow Square Onslow Square is a garden square in South Kensington, London, England. It is set back between the Old Brompton Road to the northwest and the Fulham Road to the southeast. To the north is South Kensington Underground station. To the south is ...

, is a detached house in the

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London SW7. It is set in of land and is shielded by trees from public view. Park House was created from a pair of lodges, Pelham Cottage and Park Cottage built in the 1840s that were merged into a single property in the 1980s.''Park House, 7-11 Onslow Square Heritage Assessment''.
Purcell, London, 2012. p. 14. The house was owned by

Mark Birley Marcus Oswald Hornby Lecky Birley (29 May 1930 – 24 August 2007), known as Mark Birley, was a British entrepreneur known for his investments in the hospitality industry. Early life Mark Birley was the son of Sir Oswald Birley (1880–1952), ...

who lived there with his wife Annabel Goldsmith. Goldsmith wrote a memoir, ''No Invitation Required: The Pelham Cottage Years'' about her time at the house. Goldsmith described her first visit to the house creating a "catch of pure excitement in my throat...I could not believe that such an oasis could exist only a few yards from South Kensington Tube station. In my daze of delight, I knew immediately that I had stumbled upon something magical". The house was sold by the German art historian and industrial heir

Gert-Rudolf Flick Gert-Rudolf "Muck" Flick (born 29 May 1943) is a German art historian and collector, a member of the Flick family of industrialists whose wealth originated with Flick's grandfather, Friedrich Flick, who worked with the Nazis during the Second Worl ...

for £40 million to the businessman

Richard Caring Richard Allan Caring (born 4 June 1948) is a British businessman. He initially built a business, International Clothing Designs, supplying Hong Kong-manufactured fashion to UK retailers. After surviving the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, he div ...

in 2017. Flick described Park House as "almost a country house in the middle of London". The house had been on sale for £105 million since September 2013. Caring has submitted proposals to demolish the present house and replace it with an six-bedroomed two-storey house with a double-level basement. The new ground floor will have a dining room and a long drawing room in addition to a family room and a children's study. The planned basement will incorporate a cinema and a long swimming pool as well as a massage, steam and sauna rooms and a gym. Caring's proposal received 22 letters of objection from local residents. A £235,000 payment for local housing in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea formed part of the conditions for the council's approval of the plans.

References

{{Reflist Houses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea South Kensington