St James’s Gardens, W11

Road in/near Notting Hill, existing between 1847 and now.

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(51.50837 -0.21371, 51.508 -0.213) 
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Road · * · W11 ·
FEBRUARY
27
2016
St James’s Gardens is an attractive garden square with St James Church in the middle of the communal garden.

The houses surrounding the square were built as a series of pairs of semi-detached houses linked by shared entrances. Most of the houses are part brick and part stucco faced. Speculative developer Charles Richardson built the houses and established the gardens for the residents, part of the Norland Estate.

Richardson donated the site for St James’s Church to the Church Commissioners with the thought that the houses would sell better if they had access to their own church.

Work began on St James’s Church in 1844 to designs by Lewis Vulliamy. The church was consecrated in 1845 but it was a further five years before the tower was built and there was never enough money from residents’ contributions to erect the planned spire.

John Barnett designed the houses. It was called St James’s Square at the time. By this period individuals were getting together as “building societies” to invest in property development. Charles Richardson and his brother were heavily involved in setting up the St James’s Square Benefit Building Society, which became the main source of finance for the construction of the houses in St James’s Square.

The first house to be built were Nos. 1-8, a terrace on the southern side of the square, west of the Addison Avenue junction. These were built in 1847. Nos. 9-13, which took up the western end of the square, were built in 1848. In 1849 work began on the long north side, with a terrace comprising Nos. 14-24. In 1850 work resumed on the south side, east of the Addison Avenue junction, with Nos. 47-54. Finally, Nos. 42-46 were built on the eastern side of the Square in 1851. That still left a considerable part of the north side still to be constructed, but work did not start there again for another 15 years.

David Nicholson and Son, builders from Wandsworth, were the principal contractors. They built Nos. 47-54, 14-24, and 42-46, and they also completed some of the houses started by Robert Adkin, a local builder, who started Nos. 9-13 and then went bust.

Nos. 55 and 56 were built by George Drew in 1865. These were three-storey houses and they were built in linked pairs. The lower parts of the houses are stuccoed with bare brick on the upper floors. The windows and doors at ground floor level have a semi-circular heads. In the upper floors the windows are square headed. The common motif of the houses is an elaborate cornice along the top of each house, which is echoed in the cornice above the top of the first floor.

The private communal gardens are laid out in an informal woodland style. Chestnut and lime trees, dating back to the 19th century, dominate it.


Main source: Ladbroke Association
Further citations and sources


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Comment
Joan Clarke   
Added: 2 Feb 2021 10:54 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens
My late aunt Ivy Clarke (nee Burridge) lived with her whole family at 19 Avondale Park Gardens, according to the 1911 census and she was still there in 1937.What was it like in those days, I wonder, if the housing was only built in 1920?


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ken gaston   
Added: 16 Jan 2021 11:04 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens
My grandmother Hilda Baker and a large family lived in number 18 . It was a close community and that reflected in the coronation celebration held on the central green . I grew up in that square and went to school at Sirdar Road then St. Clements it was a great place to grow up with a local park and we would also trek to Holland Park or Kensington Gardens .Even then the area was considered deprived and a kindergarden for criminals . My generation were the first to escape to the new towns and became the overspill from London to get decent housing and living standards .

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john ormandy   
Added: 20 Mar 2021 17:48 GMT   

Mary Place Workhouse
There was a lady called Ivy who lived in the corner she use to come out an tell us kids off for climbing over the fence to play football on the green. Those were the days.

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john ormandy   
Added: 14 Mar 2021 18:59 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
We moved to number 6 in 1950 an family still live there now. I think i remember a family name of Larter living in the house you mention also living in the Gdns were names Prior, Cannon, Parsons Clives at number 26 who i went to school with.


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Brian Lucas   
Added: 15 Mar 2021 16:02 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
I also lived here at No. 15 1854 then move to No. 23 The Lucas Family

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john ormandy   
Added: 20 Mar 2021 17:21 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
Remember the Lucas family think the eldest was about same age as me cant remember his name though seem to rember had several younger sisters may have been twins!!

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john ormandy   
Added: 20 Mar 2021 18:02 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
Went to that coranation party with my two younger brothers who both went to St Clements along with Alan Mullery the footballer. I went to St James before moving on to St Johns along with Alan who lived in Mary Place where we were both in the same class.

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Ken Herlingshaw   
Added: 17 Jun 2023 18:34 GMT   

St John the Evangelist - Spire
The top of the church spire fell off during WW2 (presumably during a bombing raid ?) and for many years after that the spire had a flat top.
I don’t know when it was restored.
Definitely not in the early fifties when I went to Sunday School there.

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Mark Biddle   
Added: 13 Dec 2023 17:23 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
My Grandparents David John and Esther Evans had a dairy shop 14 sirdar road from 1940s until 1973 when it was knocked down they moved to wilsham street
lived until 1994 when Esther died

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Ken Herlingshaw   
Added: 17 Jun 2023 18:35 GMT   

Clarendon Road - post WW2
I used to live at 62 Clarendon Road, from about 1947 to 1956.
It was one of four prefabs on the site, numbers 60, 60A, 62 and 62A.
The original building there (on the corner with Lansdowne Rise) was bombed during WW2.
Prefabs weren’t very popular with the up-market Kensington Borough councillors, however, and at the earliest opportunity they were demolished and we were moved to Henry Dickens Court.
We inherited a telephone line from the original occupier, a band leader, when we moved into the prefab and the phone number was BAYswater 0050. But we didn’t know anybody else with a phone to call.

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mh   
Added: 21 Jun 2023 12:15 GMT   

Clarendon Road, W11
Interesting....

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

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Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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Kensington Park Hotel
TUM image id: 1453375720
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

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The St Agnes soup kitchen was situated on the corner of Bangor Street, W11 that this photo was taken from. Bangor Street disappeared from the streetscene of Notting Dale after the Second World War.
Credit: Bishopsgate Institute
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HM Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mother, with Lady Petrie, opening Henry Dickens Court, W11 (1953) The Queen Mother is greeted by large crowds and is accompanied by Lady Petrie, Mayor of Kensington. Henry Dickens Court was built by the Council on a bomb site as part of the borough’s post war redevelopment plan. It was named after Henry Dickens, grandson of Charles Dickens, an Alderman on the Council and an active advocate of municipal housing.
Credit: Kensington Libraries
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The Tile Kiln, Notting Dale (1824)
Credit: Florence Gladstone
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Corner of Bangor Street and Sirdar Road, W11 (1911) This became the Dolphin Pub. The location was demolished to make way for the Henry Dickens Estate.
Credit: London City Mission magazine
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Local resident Trevor who grew tomatoes in compost made from Frestonian residents’ waste. Frestonia was the name adopted by the residents of Freston Road, London W11, when they attempted to secede from the United Kingdom in 1977 to form the Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia. Many residents eventually set up a housing co-op in negotiation with Notting Hill Housing Trust, and included artists, musicians, writers, actors and activists. Actor David Rappaport was the Frestonia Foreign Minister while playwright Heathcote Williams served as Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
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Martin Street, looking west (1960s) Martin Street disappeared from the map as the Latimer Road area was redeveloped in the late 1960s
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Abbotsbury Road, Holland Park (2008) These houses are just by an entrance to Holland Park. Further along the road was the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi meditation centre visited by the Beatles in 1967.
Credit: Geograph/David Hawgood
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Guy Fawkes and friends in Addison Avenue, W11 (around 1960)
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Addison Place
Credit: Google Maps
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Addison Road, W14 (1909) Addison Road takes its name from the essayist Joseph Addison who lived nearby at Holland House.
Old London postcard
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