Inventory Site Record

Two garden enclosures provide communal gardens to the residents of Hyde Park Gardens, a terrace facing onto Bayswater Road and Kensington Gardens. The houses were designed by John Crake, a pupil of Decimus Burton, whose designs for the terrace were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1836. An engraving of the same year shows the garden railed but open to view.

Site location:

Hyde Park Gardens, Paddington

Postcode:

W2

What 3 Words:

fails.universally.transmitted

Type of site:

Garden Square

Borough:

Westminster

Open to public?

No

Opening times:

private, residents only

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Lancaster Gate (Central)

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Research updated:

01/11/2007

Last minor changes:

14/07/2022

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.hydeparkestate.com

Land to the north of Hyde Park was for centuries farmland owned by the Church of England, the area known as Tyburnia after the river Tyburn that flows underground. It was at Tyburn Gallows at Marble Arch that public executions were held until 1783. The development of the Bishop of London's large Paddington Estate began after that, with an early masterplan drawn up by Samuel Pepys Cockerell (1754-1827), the estate surveyor, possibly begun in 1805 although little was built until the 1820s. Cockerell was succeeded as estate surveyor by George Gutch (c.1790-1874), who modified and intensified the layout, and drew up his 'Final Plan of Tyburnia' in 1838. The Bayswater area was developed by a number of different speculators, although some of the earlier field boundaries, footpaths and tracks from the previous land use can still be traced.

In 1928 two gardens off Bayswater Road, still owned by the Paddington Estate Trustees, were for the use of residents of adjoining houses and managed by a Committee of occupants. The expenses of maintenance were assessed proportionately on each house, although the Trustees had the power to undertake maintenance in cases of neglect. The gardens were described at that time as 'two enclosures, one a triangular area flanked on all sides by roads, the other a long rectangular area flanked on three sides by roads and on the other (long) side by the rear of good-class dwelling houses. Laid out as attractive ornamental gardens with some fine trees'.

In 1954 a 90-acre area of land within the Church Commissioners estate containing C19th terraces south of Sussex Gardens was consolidated as the Hyde Park Estate. The larger rectangular garden today has a serpentine path running from its eastern end with candy-twist edging tiles and has a boundary of wire mesh and hedging. Planting includes thick shrubbery and mature trees such as yew, holly, laurel, ilex, hawthorn, magnolia and specimen trees. The adjoining houses have access via doors under the terrace to a straight walk. The shrubbery beds and paths are much simplified since the first OS Map recorded a complex arrangement in 1862-65. By 1914 the OS indicates major clearance had taken place. The small triangular garden to the west of Brook Street still forms part of the whole.

Sources consulted:

H A Colvin, 'A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840', (London 1978); Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, 'The Buildings of England London 3: North West', (Penguin, 1999 ed.); Report of the Royal Commission on London Squares, 1928

Grid ref:

TQ270808 (527028,180893)

Size in hectares:

1.1

Site ownership:

Church Commissioners

Site management:

Estate Management Scheme; Gardens Committee

Date(s):

1836

Designer(s):

John Crake

Listed structures:

LBII: nos. 1 to 24 and 25 to 38. On the other side the nos. 1 to 21, 14 and 48 (designed by John Crake).

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

Yes

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Bayswater

Tree Preservation Order:

Yes

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Borough Importance II

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

None

Photo: Pamela Paterson (1995)

Click a photo to enlarge.