On the east side of the Royal Hospital, all the land on the south side of the highway as far as the parish boundary belonged to the Crown in 1690.

In 1688 Richard Jones, earl of Ranelagh, Paymaster-General of the Army and treasurer of the Hospital, began building an official residence for himself near the south-east corner of the Hospital, laying out gardens on the seven and a half acre site of which he was granted a Crown lease in 1690; another 15 acres were added in 1693, also laid out with walks and orchards.

Access to the house was via Wilderness Row, a lane running south from the highway near the Westbourne, which had a row of cottages by c. 1700, but by 1745 an avenue later called Ranelagh Walk or Grove had been created to run to the house across the Westbourne from Ebury (Westminster).

The house and gardens were greatly admired by topographers and visitors: Defoe lavished praise c. 1724 on Ranelagh House, its situation, gardens, and pictures.