23-24 Leinster Gardens, W2
Metropolitan Railway locomotives were fitted with condensers to reduce fumes, but venting off was still needed in open-air sections to relieve the condensers and keep the tunnels free from smoke.
The railway planned such a vent behind Leinster Terrace.
So in this upmarket area, a solution was found. The railway company hid this unsightly venting practice from residents by building a false façade which maintained a continuous frontage along the prestigious terrace.
The two false frontages of numbers 23 & 24 are five feet thick with 18 blackened windows. The doors have no letter boxes and the 'windows' are painted grey.
