Christchurch, Lancaster Gate, London-geograph-3582984-by-Christine-Matthews

Lancaster Gate is a mid-19th century development in the

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 ...

district of

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

, immediately to the north of

Kensington Gardens Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde P ...

. It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them opening onto a square containing a church. Further terraces back onto the pair overlooking the park and loop around the square. Until 1865 the terraces were known as Upper Hyde Park Gardens, with the name Lancaster Gate limited to the square surrounding the church. The development takes its name from Lancaster Gate, a nearby entrance to Kensington Gardens, itself named in honour of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

Duke of Lancaster The Dukedom of Lancaster is an English peerage merged into the crown. It was created three times in the Middle Ages, but finally merged in the Crown when Henry V succeeded to the throne in 1413. Despite the extinction of the dukedom the title h ...

. The terraces are

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ed and are in an eclectic classical style featuring

English Baroque English Baroque is a term used to refer to modes of English architecture that paralleled Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and roughly 1720, when the flamboyant and dramatic qualities of Baroque ...

details and French touches. The church, known as Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, was an asymmetrical gothic composition with a needle spire. The architects were F. & H. Francis. The church was one of the most well known in London, but when dry rot was discovered in the roof the decision was taken to demolish most of the building and redevelop the site. The last service in the church was on 6 March 1977, and demolition began on 15 August 1977; only the tower and spire survive. The rest of the building was replaced by a housing scheme called Spire House in 1983. Lancaster Gate stands alongside

Hyde Park Gardens Hyde Park Gardens, also known as Hyde Park Terrace consists of two roads running adjacent to the north western corner of Hyde Park, Westminster, Greater London. Number 1 Hyde Park Gardens runs up to Number 23 with a large private communal garde ...

as one of the two grandest of the 19th-century housing schemes lining the northern side of

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

and Kensington Gardens. The development was planned in 1856–57 on the site of a nursery and tea gardens, and construction took at least 10 years. The terraces overlooking the park were designed by

Sancton Wood Sancton Wood (27 April 1814 – 18 April 1886) was an English architect and surveyor, known for his work on railway buildings. Life and family Sancton Wood was born on 27 April 1814 in Nursery Place, Hackney Terrace, Hackney, London. He was ...

and those around the square by John Johnson. The exteriors are largely complete, with just a couple of 20th-century infills, but many of the interiors have been reconstructed behind the facades. Many of the properties are still in residential use and command very high prices. Others are used as

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

(such as the Embassy of Costa Rica),

office An office is a space where an Organization, organization's employees perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize objects and Goals, plans, action theory, goals of the organizati ...

s, or

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

s. For many years, the headquarters of

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

were located in Lancaster Gate and the term was often used as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

for the organisation, but it later relocated to

Soho Square Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a ''de facto'' public park let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, and a much weathered s ...

and is now based at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Lancaster Gate is also an electoral ward of

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,195.

Gallery

File:Paddington Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg, A map showing the Lancaster Gate wards of the

Metropolitan Borough of Paddington Paddington was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board ...

as they appeared in 1916. File:Lancaster Gate 2.jpg, The Lancaster Gate of

File:Lancaster Gate 1.jpg, Memorial to

Reginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath Reginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath, (31 July 1841 – 11 October 1929) was an Irish politician and philanthropist. The Honourable Reginald Brabazon was born into an old Anglo-Irish family in London, the second son of William Brabazon, 11t ...

References

Notes Bibliography *Cherry, Bridget and

Pevsner, Nikolaus Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

(1999) ''The Buildings of England. London 3: North West'' London: Penguin

External links

*{{commonscat-inline, Lancaster Gate, London Housing in London Streets in the City of Westminster Bayswater

Gallery

See also

References

External links