Cleveland Square is a notable square in Paddington.
Between the two groups of long north-south avenues lay an area, on either side of Craven Hill, which was built over from the 1850s with grand town houses, many enjoying communal gardens. This land was originally owned by the Church Commissioners.
The most lavish use of space was in Cleveland Square, where the block forming the north side gave directly on the gardens. Houses on the other sides were leased between 1852 and 1854 to Henry de Bruno Austin, a speculator active in Paddington and later in outer suburbs.
During the Second World War the area around Paddington station sustained substantial damage due to the bombing of the city. Cleveland Square sustained two direct hits destroying houses numbers 8 to 11. Several other buildings in neighbouring streets were also destroyed.
There was an anti-aircraft Barrage Balloon stationed in the gardens of Cleveland Square and until recently one of the flower beds still had the huge concrete block with steel attachments buried among the plants. This bed has been named the ‘Balloon Bed’ in tribute and there is a commemorative plaque positioned there.
Most bombed properties were rebuilt in the 1950s and can be identified by the different style of architecture used.
After World War II, the Church Commissioners’ decision in 1954 to reorganise the Paddington Estate involved the renaming and disposal of their Bayswater property as the Lancaster Gate estate. Plans for its sale, with that of outlying properties farther north, were announced in 1955, to include Westbourne Terrace, Cleveland Square, most of Gloucester Terrace, part of Lancaster Gate and Inverness Terrace, and shops in Queensway.
The borough council acquired from the Church Commissioners land between Bishop’s Bridge Road and Cleveland Square, an area badly damaged during the Second World War, for the Hallfield estate.
Cleveland Square, which once rivalled Lancaster Gate as the most expensive address in Bayswater, has an unusually large private garden to serve the massive range of six storeys and basements on its north side.
