The Royal Crescent is a Grade II* listed street in Holland Park, west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, England, consisting of two curved facing terraces in a crescent shape. The

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

is located on the north side of

Holland Park Avenue Holland Park Avenue is a street located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London. The street runs from Notting Hill Gate in the east to the Holland Park Roundabout in the west, forms a part of the old west road c ...

, west of Addison Avenue, and to the east of the Holland Park Roundabout. Between the facing terraces is a landscaped communal garden with expansive lawns and numerous trees. The houses themselves are stucco fronted and are built on four floors, with porticoed entrances, above which are small first-floor balconies with iron railings. Each of the end houses have circular corners.

History

Designed in 1839, The Royal Crescent is one of the most architecturally interesting Nineteenth Century developments in Holland Park. Evidently inspired by its older namesake in Bath, it differs from the Bath crescent in that it is not strictly a true crescent but rather two quadrant terraces each terminated by a circular bow in the Regency style, rising as a tower, a feature which would not have been found in the earlier classically inspired architecture of the 18th century which the design of the crescent seeks to emulate. The plan of the Royal Crescent was the design of the planner Robert Cantwell, and it was the need for the newly fashionable underground sewers which caused the crescent to be designed in two halves rather than any consideration for architectural aesthetics. On early maps it is marked as Norland Crescent. The stucco fronted crescent is painted white, in the style of the many Nash terraces which can be seen elsewhere in London's smarter residential areas. Today many of these four storey houses have been converted to apartments, although a few remain as private houses. The Royal Crescent is listed Grade II*.

Royal Crescent Mews

Behind the terraces is the Royal Crescent Mews. The Mews is a part-cobbled cul-de-sac off Queensdale Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It contains 34 properties used for residential purposes. It is part of Kensington's Norland Conservation Area; first designated in 1969, it contains Royal Crescent, Norland Square and St. James's gardens. Building of the area began in the 1840s and was completed just fifteen years later. It contains linked terraces and is largely urban in style.

Notable residents

* John Gawsworth (1912–1970), writer, poet and compiler of anthologies, grew up in Colville Gardens and at number 40 Royal Crescent. He was crowned the king of

Redonda Redonda is an uninhabited Caribbean island that is a part of Antigua and Barbuda, in the Leeward Islands, West Indies. The island is about long, wide, and is high at its highest point. This small island lies between the islands of Nevis and ...

in 1947 and became known as King Juan I. His real name was Terence Ian Fytton Armstrong.Richard Tames, ''The Notting Hill & Holland Park Book Past and Present'', Historical Publications, 2004

References

* Mitton, Geraldine Edith, The Kensington District, Project Gutenberg (30 May 2007) Book #21643 * Tames, Richard, ''The Notting Hill & Holland Park Book Past and Present'', Historical Publications (2004).

External links

The Royal Crescent, Holland Park, at www.hollandparkliving.co.uk
Retrieved 20 February 2010

Retrieved 20 February 2010

Retrieved July 2012

Retrieved October 2011

Notes

{{coord, 51.5057, -0.2142, type:landmark_region:GB-KEC, display=title Crescents (architecture) Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Grade II* listed houses in London History of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Holland Park Streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Communal gardens Garden squares in London