1–2 Orme Square is a

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 ...

pair of houses in

Orme Square Orme Square is a square in Bayswater, London, England, off the north side of Bayswater Road and on the north-west corner of Hyde Park, overlooking Kensington Gardens. Origin of Name It is named after the British engraver, painter, publisher o ...

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

, London, W2. The houses were built in the early-19th century and according to rate books No.1 was first occupied in 1826, along with No.3 to the east, followed by No.2 in 1827. There is an LCC plaque on number 1 to Sir

Rowland Hill Sir Rowland Hill, KCB, FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post and his soluti ...

, (1795–1879), postal reformer, who lived there from 1839 to 1842, while he was introducing the

penny post The Penny Post is any one of several postal systems in which normal letters could be sent for one penny. Five such schemes existed in the United Kingdom while the United States initiated at least three such simple fixed rate postal arrangements. Un ...

. No 2 was the home of George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, and his son, David Lascelles, 8th Earl of Harewood, who was born there. When the 7th Earl divorced his wife, Marion Stein, in 1967 the house passed to her for her lifetime. When she married Liberal politician Jeremy Thorpe, it became their London home until Marion's death in March 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1-2 Orme Square Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster Grade II listed houses in London Houses in the City of Westminster Houses completed in the 19th century Bayswater