Before the development of the Ladbroke Estate, almost the only building in the area was a large house just west of the road which was the “handsome pleasant seat” of the owner of the Norland Estate.

Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy had owned the Norland Estate. In September 1838, taking advantage of land price rises due to the possible coming of railways to the area, Vulliamy began discussions with William Kingdom, a building speculator who was probably already active in the development of Westbourne Terrace and Hyde Park Gardens, Paddington.

In the end, Kingdom did not purchase the Norland estate. In January 1839 he assigned the benefit of his agreement with Vulliamy to a solicitor, Charles Richardson, for £5,932. The circumstances of the sale are obscure, but it appears that Kingdom’s assignment to Richardson was in payment of a mortgage debt, possibly on Kingdom’s property in Paddington.

Richardson became the freehold owner of all fifty-two acres of the estate and the development of the Norland estate was to be his main concern for the next 12 years.

Princes Road (Princedale Road) was officially begun in 1841. Richardson first sold off plots on the "odd" side of the street that year to a succession of people. Numbers 9–13 and 27–33 to Charles Patch of Edgware Road, builder, 15–25 to Thomas Pool of Paddington, builder.

35-55 were similarly and varioously sold between 1844 and 1851 to George Warren (carpenter), Job Way (carman), William Thelwall (painter) and to Thomas Pool (builder).

Even numbers up to no. 40 were built between 1846 and 1851.

The Prince of Wales public house was built by James Emmins of Bayswater between 1844 and 1845. The Crown public house arrived in 1851 courtesy of James Watney and partner of the Stag Brewery, Pimlico.


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