Kensington Palace Gardens
Coordinates: 51°30′24″N 0°11′27″W / 51.50667°N 0.19083°W Kensington Palace Gardens is a street in west central London which contains some of the grandest[citation needed] and most expensive houses in the world. It was the location of the London Cage, the British government MI9 centre used during the Second World War and the Cold War.
A tree-lined avenue half a mile long in the heart of embassy land, Kensington Palace Gardens is the often cited as "most exclusive address" in London, according to real estate agency Knight Frank. It is one of the most expensive residential streets in the world, and has long been known as "Billionaires Row", due to the extreme wealth of its private residents, although in fact the majority of its current occupants are either national embassies or ambassadorial residences. As of mid 2010, current market prices for a property on the street are an average of £18 million.
It is immediately to the west of Kensington Gardens and connects Notting Hill Gate with Kensington High Street. The southern section of Kensington Palace Gardens is called Palace Green.
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[edit] Background
The road was originally called The Queen's Road and was re-named Kensington Palace Gardens around 1870 when plane trees were planted in the avenue. It was built from the 1840s onwards, on part of the grounds of Kensington Palace and the freehold still belongs to the Crown Estate. The palace, which is the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, fronts the southern part of the street on the eastern side. The houses at the northern end are mostly Italianate, while those at the southern end are mostly in the Queen Anne style. For much of the 20th century a large proportion of the houses were occupied by embassies and ambassadors' residences. Some still are, but others have been renovated by the Crown Estate and sold to private buyers on long leases. One of these was bought in 2004 by the Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who in 2008 was listed by Forbes Magazine as the fourth richest man in the world. The sale was widely misreported at £70 million,[1] before accurate figures were available from HM Land Registry, where records state that on 30 June 2004, 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens, along with three mews houses at the rear of the property, sold for £57,145,967.[2]
Formerly, this house was owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One racing boss. On October 8, 2001, he purchased the house from Iranian property developer David Khalili for £50 million. This was substantially less than the asking price of £85 million when it was placed on the market by Savills in spring 2001. However, it was reported that Ecclestone's wife, Slavica, never liked the 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m2), 18-bedroom mansion so they never moved in.
Khalili spent three years and more than £20 million turning the two houses into one, building a swimming pool and indulging in his taste for marble floors and pillars (with marble from the same quarry as that used for the Taj Mahal).
Paul Reuter, the founder of the Reuters news agency, was also a former resident.
No 8 was used as an interrogation centre for German POWs during World War II and was known as the London Cage. The house was replaced in 1964 by a glass-and-steel block designed by Richard Seifert, now divided into four apartments. Flat 3 was on the market in 2006 as a three-bedroom apartment designed by international architect David Chipperfield, valued at a minimum of £13.25 million through Knight Frank.[3][4]
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Due to the presence of likely terrorist targets — embassies etc., including those of Russia and Israel — both ends of the street have armed police checkpoints (Diplomatic Protection Group officers) with crash barriers as well as the original wrought-iron gates. This has the side effect of extremely low traffic for a central London street. Some of the buildings also have barriers to keep vehicles at a distance.
The street is lit by very dim Victorian gaslight-style streetlights.
[edit] Current occupants
Current occupiers and residents include:
East side of Kensington Palace Gardens:
- 1-3 — Demolished. Now a coach park on Bayswater Road.
- 4-5 — Embassy of Russia - consular department
- 6-7 — Embassy of Russia - chancery 51°30′25.49″N 0°11′26.71″W / 51.5070806°N 0.1907528°W
- 8 — Sub-divided private residence
- 9 — Official residence of the High Commissioner from India
- 10 — Jonathan Hunt, founder of Foxtons[5][6]
- 11 — Official residence of the Ambassador of France
- 12 — Saudi royal family[7]
- 12a — Embassy of Nepal
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- 13 — Official residence of the Ambassador of Russia
- 14 — Official residence of the Ambassador of Finland
- 15 — Leonard Blavatnik (Double plot) Building completed in 1855 and first occupied by the Victorian merchant and philanthropist George Moore who moved in with his first wife Eliza Moore née Ray in 1856.
- 15b — Leonard Blavatnik
West side of Kensington Palace Gardens:
- 15a — Leonard Blavatnik
- 18-19 — Lakshmi Mittal, 51°30′25.41″N 0°11′29.80″W / 51.5070583°N 0.191611°W, Bird's eye view
Previous occupants: Baron de Reuter, founder of the news agency in the 1850s; John Leech, Punch artist; The de Rothschild family (early 1900s); The Free Poles (1939-45); David Khalili, dealer in Islamic art; Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1 chief.
- 20 — Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei. The number eight can be seen on the roof, symbolizing the phrase Ba Shi Fa Cai" ("the number eight brings prosperity"). 51°30′27.38″N 0°11′30.68″W / 51.5076056°N 0.1918556°W
- 21 — Embassy of Lebanon
- 22 — Official residence of the Ambassador of Kuwait
- 23 — Official residence of the Ambassador of Japan
- 24 — Official residence of the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia
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- 25 — Embassy of Slovakia
- 26-30 — Embassy of the Czech Republic
Palace Green
- 2 — Embassy of Israel 51°30′11.24″N 0°11′22.43″W / 51.5031222°N 0.1895639°W
- 3 — Residence of the late Hasib Sabbagh.[8]
- 4 — Embassy of Romania 51°30′14.36″N 0°11′23.85″W / 51.5039889°N 0.1899583°W
- 6 — Noam Gottesman, hedge-fund trader. Said to have now been sold to Lakshmi Mittal for £117 million, for the use of his son Aditya.[9] Sale said to have later fallen through.[10]
- 9a — Former Embassy of the Philippines. Sold to Lakshmi Mittal for £70 million in 2008, for his daughter Vanisha.[11] 51°30′18.81″N 0°11′26.71″W / 51.505225°N 0.1907528°W
- 10 — Official residence of the Ambassador of Norway.[12]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "$128M Spend for London House". MSNBC. April 12, 2004. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4722789/.
- ^ Meek, James (April 17, 2006). "Super rich". London: The Guardian. http://money.guardian.co.uk/tax/story/0,,1755287,00.html. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ Where £10m is 'a snip', Daily Telegraph, 28 June 2006
- ^ The modernist ideal, The Spectator, 22 July 2006
- ^ Foxtons owner plans multi-million pound underground extension to London home, Daily Mail, 10 September 2007
- ^ Planning Application file for 10 Kensington Place Gardens, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, 2008. With extensive drawings and history of the house, and including proposals for the five storey high underground tennis court and car museum to be created at the rear of the property.
- ^ Super Rich, The Guardian, 17 April 2006
- ^ Hasib Sabbagh: construction industry entrepreneur and philanthropist, The Times, 5 February 2010
- ^ Lakshmi Mittal to buy Britain’s most expensive house for £117 million, Daily Telegraph, 23 May 2008
- ^ Mira Bar-Hillel, London’s biggest home to be created in Regent’s Park, Evening Standard, 2 February 2010.
- ^ Steel tycoon buys third property on Billionaire's Row, Evening Standard, 23 June 2008
- ^ An Exclusive Piece of Norway, Official Norwegian UK website
[edit] External links
- Kensington Palace Gardens at the Survey of London online:
- Planning decisions for Palace Green and Kensington Palace Gardens, 2000-2008
- Even £200m can’t buy a house here, The Sunday Times, 14 May 2008
- Article about Abramovich buying property on the road, FindaProperty, 17 August 2011
