Maida Vale

For other uses, see Maida Vale (disambiguation).

Maida Vale
The Grand Union Canal at Little Venice
OS grid reference	TQ255825
London borough	Westminster
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	W9
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Westminster North
London Assembly	West Central

Maida Vale is an affluent residential district comprising the northern part of Paddington in west London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is part of the City of Westminster. The name derives from the Hero of Maida inn which used to be on Edgware Road near the Regent's Canal. The pub was named after General Sir John Stuart who was made Count of Maida by King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily after the victory at the Battle of Maida in 1806. The area is mostly residential, and mainly affluent, with many large late Victorian and Edwardian blocks of mansion flats. It is home to the BBC Maida Vale Studios.

Geography

A map showing the Maida Vale ward of Paddington Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916.

The Maida Vale area is regarded as being bounded by Maida Avenue and the Regent's Canal to the south, Maida Vale Road to the north east, Kilburn Park Road to the north west, and Shirland Road and Blomfield Road to the south west: an area of around 1 square kilometre (0.4 square miles). It makes up most of the W9 postal district. The southern part of Maida Vale at the junction of Paddington Basin with Regent's Canal, with many houseboats, is known as Little Venice. The area to the south-west of Maida Vale, at the western end of Elgin Avenue, was historically known as "Maida Hill", and was a recognised postal district bounded by the Avenues on the west, the Regent's Canal to the south, Maida Vale to the east and Kilburn Lane to the north. Parts of Maida Vale were also included within this. The name of "Maida Hill" had since fallen out of use, although it has been resurrected since the mid-2000s, through the 414 bus route (which terminates on Shirland Road and gives its destination as Maida Hill) and a new street market on the Piazza at the junction of Elgin Avenue and Harrow Road.

Just to the east of Maida Vale is St John's Wood and Lord's Cricket Ground.

Developed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in the early 19th century as middle class housing, Maida Vale took its name from a public house named after John Stuart, Count of Maida, which opened on the Edgware Road soon after the Battle of Maida, 1806.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Maida Vale was a predominantly Jewish district, and the 1896 Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, a Grade II listed building and headquarters of the British Sephardi community, is on Lauderdale Road. The actor Alec Guinness was born in this road. The first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, lived within sight of this synagogue on Warrington Crescent. The pioneer of modern computing, Alan Turing, was born at what is now the Colonnade Hotel in Warrington Crescent.

Maida Vale tube station was opened on 6 June 1915, on the Bakerloo line, and Warwick Avenue tube station, on the same line, was opened a few months earlier.

BBC Studios

Main article: Maida Vale Studios

Maida Vale is home to some of BBC network radio's recording and broadcast studios. The building on Delaware Road is one of the BBC's earliest premises, pre-dating Broadcasting House, and was the centre of the BBC radio news service during World War II. The building houses a total of seven music and radio drama studios, and most famously was home to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 Peel Sessions and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Little Venice

The canal junction at Little Venice

Main article: Little Venice (London)

Maida Avenue, Warwick Crescent and Blomfield Road, the streets in the south of Maida Vale overlooking Browning's Pool including the section of Randolph Avenue south of Clifton Gardens, are known as Little Venice. According to one story, the poet Robert Browning, who lived in the area from 1862 to 1887, coined the name. However, this was disputed by Lord Kinross in 1966 and by London Canals. Both assert that Lord Byron (1788–1824) humorously coined the name, which now applies more loosely to a longer reach of the canal system. Browning's Pool is named after the poet, and is the junction of Regent's Canal and the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

South Maida Vale, one of London's prime residential areas, also has a reputation for its shops and restaurants, as well as for the Canal Cafe Theatre, the Puppet Theatre Barge, the Waterside Café and the Warwick Castle pub. A regular waterbus service operates from Little Venice eastwards around Regent's Park, calling at London Zoo and on towards Camden Town. Since 1983, the Inland Waterways Association has hosted the Canalway Cavalcade in Little Venice.

Other areas

The Carlton Tavern (1922), an example of 1920s architecture

Maida Vale is noted for its wide tree-lined avenues, large communal gardens and red-brick mansion blocks from the late Victoria and Edwardian eras. The first mansion blocks were completed in 1897, with the arrival of the identically-designed Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Mansions West and Lauderdale Mansions East in Lauderdale Road. Others quickly followed in neighbouring streets: Elgin Mansions (Elgin Avenue) and Leith Mansions (Grantully Road) in 1900, Ashworth Mansions (Elgin Avenue and Grantully Road) and Castellain Mansions (Castellain Road) in 1902, Elgin Court (Elgin Avenue) and Carlton Mansions (Randolph Avenue) in 1902, Delaware Mansions (Delaware Road) and Biddulph Mansions (Elgin Avenue and Biddulph Road) in 1907 and Randolph Court in 1910.

Among the buildings of architectural interest was the Carlton Tavern, a pub which stood on Carlton Vale. Built in 1920–21 for Charrington Brewery, it was thought to be the work of the architect Frank J Potter and was noted for its unaltered 1920s interiors and faience tiled exterior. The building was being considered by Historic England for Grade II listing when it was unexpectedly demolished in March 2015 by the property developer CLTX Ltd to make way for a new block of flats.

Religion

Maida Vale is served by St Mark's parish church, Hamilton Terrace. Between 1870 and 1906 the incumbent of St. Mark's was Robinson Duckworth. Saatchi Shul, an independent Orthodox Jewish synagogue, was founded in Maida Vale in 1998.

Notable people

Commemorative blue plaques

Ordered by birth date

• Andreas Kalvos (1792–1869), Greek poet and patriot, at 182 Sutherland Avenue.
• Ambrose Fleming (1849–1945), English electrical engineer and physicist, at 9 Clifton Gardens.
• David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), first prime minister of Israel, at 75 Warrington Crescent.
• Lupino Lane (1892–1959), theatre and film star lived at 32 Maida Vale.
• Edward Ardizzone (1900–1979), artist and illustrator, at 130 Elgin Avenue.
• Alan Turing (1912–1954), code-breaker and pioneer of computer science, at 2 Warrington Crescent.
• Arthur Lowe (1915-1982), English actor, famed for his role as Captain George Mainwaring in the television show Dad's Army, lived at 2 Maida Hill West from 1969-1982.

Other notable residents

Ordered by birth date where given, followed by those for whom no birth date is given.

• Sir John Tenniel (1820–1914), artist and cartoonist, lived at 10 Portsdown Road, Maida Hill from 1854 to 1909.
• John Lawrence Toole (1830–1906), comic actor, lived in Maida Vale.
• James Payn (1830–1892), novelist and journal editor, died at his home, 43 Warrington Crescent, on 25 March 1898.
• Joanna Mary Boyce (1831–1861), portrait painter, born in Maida Vale.
• Sir Edward German (1862–1936), composer, lived at 5 Biddulph Road from 1921 until his death in 1936.
• Leslie Green (1875–1908), architect, was born in Maida Vale.
• John Masefield (1878–1967), novelist, playwright and Poet Laureate from 1930, lived at 30 Maida Avenue.
• Lieutenant Leonard Keysor VC (1885–1951), Australian soldier, was born in Maida Vale.
• Philip Guedalla (1889–1944), writer, politician and barrister, was born in Maida Vale.
• Vera Brittain (1893–1970), writer, lived at 111 Wymering Mansions, Wymering Road.
• Victor Gollancz (1893–1967), publisher and humanitarian, was born at 256 Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale.
• Stephen Potter (1900–1969), humourist and author, lived at 23 Maida Vale in the 1960s.
• Irene Handl (1901–1987), character actress, was born in Maida Vale.
• Terence Fisher (1904–1980), film director best known for his work for Hammer Films, was born in Maida Vale.
• Nancy Mitford (1904–1973) author, lived at 13 Blomfield Road in the 1930s.
• Jack Gaster (1907–2007), communist politician and lawyer, was born and raised in Maida Vale.
• Hardy Amies (1909–2003), fashion designer, dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II.
• Walter Kolarz (1912–1962), communist scholar, lived in Maida Vale from 1940 until his death.
• Ernest Clark, (1912–1994), actor, was born and raised in Maida Vale.
• Sir Alec Guinness (1914–2000), Oscar-winning actor was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road.
• Alan Freeman (1927–2006), broadcaster.
• Enrica Soma (1929–1969), Italian-American socialite and ballerina, one-time wife of John Huston and mother of Anjelica Huston, moved there with her children in 1962 after separating from her husband.
• Ruth Rendell (1930–2015), Baroness Rendell of Babergh, the English crime novelist, lived there.
• Joan Collins (b. 1933) grew up in Maida Vale.
• John Inman (1935–2007), actor, lived in a mews house in Little Venice for 30 years.
• Delia Derbyshire (1937–2001) lived in Clifton Villas during her time with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
• Tony Meehan (1943–2005), drummer with the British rock group The Shadows.
• David Gilmour (b. 1946) of Pink Floyd formerly lived there.
• Mary Hopkin (b. 1950), the Welsh pop singer of "Those Were the Days" fame, lived there.
• Joe Strummer (1952–2002) of Punk rock band The Clash formerly lived there.
• Jimmy McCulloch (1953–1979) of Wings died of a heroin overdose at his flat there.
• Jennifer Saunders (b. 1958), the British actress, lived here.
• Paul Weller (b. 1958) of the Jam and the Style Council.
• Steve McFadden (b. 1959), actor in EastEnders was born and raised in the Maida Vale area.
• Robert Smith (b. 1959), front of alternative rock band The Cure.
• Mary Portas (b. 1960), journalist and television presenter.
• Ruby Hammer (b. 1961), fashion and makeup artist.
• Jarvis Cocker (b. 1963) of Pulp was living there in 1997.
• Björk (b. 1965), Icelandic singer, lived in Warwick Avenue.
• Todd Swift (b. 1966), Oxfam GB poet-in-residence, literary critic and editor.
• Ben Miller (b. 1966), comedian and actor.
• Kate Moss (b. 1974), international fashion model and designer.
• Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (b. 1977), Irish actor.
• Mary Rahman (b. 1978), PR consultant, lives in Maida Vale.
• Sergio Pizzorno (b. 1980), musician with Kasabian, has a second home in Maida Vale.
• Bradley Wiggins (b. 1980), cyclist and Olympic gold medalist, formerly lived in Maida Vale.
• Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (b. 1987), model and actress.
• Mohammed Emwazi (1988–2015), alleged executioner for Islamic State known as "Jihadi John" attended St. Mary Magdalene Church of England Primary School in Maida Vale.
• Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary (b. 1991), rapper and alleged murderer.
• Daisy Ridley (b. 1992), actress.

Notable local events

St George's Roman Catholic Secondary School, situated in Maida Vale, was the school of which Philip Lawrence was head teacher at the time of his murder in December 1995.

Education

For education in Maida Vale, see List of schools in the City of Westminster.