South of The King's Road, SW3 - the garden of Chelsea
Just to the south of The King's Road (or Kings Road) between Oakley Street and Chelsea Bridge Road, is a beautiful enclave of residential streets, largely contained within the Royal Hospital Chelsea Conservation Area. With the old Royal Hospital Chelsea at its core, this area is peppered with lovely gardens and features the amazing Burton Court, a huge area of garden and recreation land owned by the Royal Chelsea Hospital that contains a cricket pitch, tennis courts and a tennis academy.
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While this fabulous pocket of Chelsea is right in the heart of the buzz of SW3, sometimes you'd simply never know it, with its quiet streets of gorgeous houses and a few very well kept Victorian mansion blocks.
Kings Road or The King's Road originally got its name due to being a private road used by King Charles II to travel to Kew. It remained a private royal road until 1830, but people with connections were allowed to use it.
The King's Road itself has always been known for its fashionable set. During the 1960s the street became a symbol of mod culture, evoking "an endless frieze of mini-skirted, booted, fair-haired angular angels", and during the hippie and punk eras it was a centre for counterculture with; in the 80s it was all about the Sloanes, but these days the likes of Made in Chelsea and the Ivy set have lifted its status again back to the well-heeled party crowd.
The amazing Burton Court, SW3 - www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk
This gorgeous area is dominated by the magnificent building of the Royal Hospital and its extensive grounds, but also contains some lovely and very well preserved residential streets of late Georgian and Victorian Terraces. This enclave has some of the most exclusive homes, dating back to the early 18C.
Favourite streets:
St Leonards Terrace has a number of amazing 5-storey mid-18C townhouses, many of which are Grade II listed.
Burton Court and streets such as Franklin's Row and Durham Place are some of the most coveted addresses in prime central London. Durham Place, which faces Burton Court is a lovely row of terraced houses built in 1790 and former home to the author, Bram Stoker who lived at number 4.
Tite Street, named after William Tite was built in the 1700s and in the late 19th century, favoured by artistic and literary sorts, including one of its most famous, Oscar Wilde. It has an eclectic mix of homes, designed and built as artists studios. This street and neighbouring Paradise Walk have some rare low living homes amongst the 5-storey Georgian townhouses.
Swan walk that runs alongside the Physic Gardens is incredibly exclusive with a few of the best detached Georgian homes in London.
Tedworth Square is highly desirable with it red brick townhouses and beautiful communal gardens, formerly market gardens that were part of the Cadogan Estate.
Margaretta Terrace, one of the most beautiful streets in Chelsea that runs between Chelsea Manor Street and Oakley Street was built by Dr John Samuel Phene and named after his wife. The entire terrace of 1-31 is Grade II listed. Houses on this street are much sought-after and quite unusual being lower level and having originally having no basements. Their gardens largely at the front of the houses, while just four have access to Flood Walk at the rear.
An eclectic history with roots in entertainment
This area has an eclectic history of residents, including George Gissing - novelist (Phene Street), Bob Marley (42 Oakley Street), Oscar Wilde (34 Tite Street),Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, actress Lilly Langtry and the cricketer Pelham "Plum" Warner, Mark Twain (all in Tedworth Square) and most celebrated of all, Sir Bob Geldof! Royal Avenue is also the fictional home of James Bond...
Of course there are many, many other famous people quietly living around this area still, and it's also a celebrity wedding hotspot being home to the famed Chelsea Registry Office, which has seen many a celebrity wedding, including Marc Bolan and June Child, Pierce Brosnan and Cassandra Harris, Nigel Dempster and Lady Camilla Osborne, Judy Garland and Mickey Deans, Hugh Grant and Anna Eberstein, Patsy Kensit and Jim Kerr,
Bobby Moore and Stephanie Parlane, Wallis Simpson and Ernest Simpson, Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, Marco Pierre White and Alex McArthur to name a few...
Ranelagh Gardens - 18C London
Its roots in entertainment go way back, with the famous pleasure gardens at Ranelagh Gardens built in 1741, when the house and grounds at Ranelagh Gardens were purchased by a syndicate led by the owner of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and Sir Thomas Robinson MP. The pleasure gardens were opened to the public the following year.
Ranelegh was considered more fashionable than its older rival Vauxhall Gardens; the entrance charge was two shillings and sixpence (more pricey than Vauxhall to keep out the undesirables!).
Horace Walpole wrote soon after the gardens opened, "It has totally beat Vauxhall... You can't set your foot without treading on a Prince, or Duke of Cumberland." Ranelagh Gardens introduced the masquerade, formerly a private, aristocratic entertainment, to a wider, middle-class English public, where it was open to commentary by essayists and writers of moral fiction.
Redesigned as gardens in 19C by John Gibson and now as part of the Royal Chelsea Hospital grounds, Ranelagh Gardens is the site of the annual Chelsea Flower Show. It used to house a beautiful Rotunda, the centrepiece of the gardens, which was painted by Canaletto in 1754 and in 1765, the nine-year-old Mozart performed in it. Sadly the Rotunda was demolished, but the organ was moved to All Saints Church, Evesham.
Ranelagh was also a popular venue for romantic assignations. Edward Gibbon wrote that it was, "the most convenient place for courtships of every kind — the best market we have in England." Is this still the case? You'll have to find out!
As well as Ranelagh Gardens and Burton Court, this area is also the home to the Physic Gardens, the Second-oldest surviving botanical garden in England, founded in 1673 for medicinal plant study and has a fantastic cafe that is a great venue for social or business meetings and well worth the small annual gardens membership.
Eat and Drink
Go-to eateries and drinkeries include The Ivy Chelsea Gardens, Gordon Ramsay's Bar & Grill and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, both on Royal Hospital Road; The Phene - a well known drinking hole of George Best and many other celebrities; The Phoenix on Old Smith Street, The Coopers Arms on Flood Street; La Delizia Pizzeria, Surprise Chelsea on Smith Terrace and The Physic Gardens Cafe.
Current properties
We currently have a few homes for sale in this area (both on- and off-market):
Redesdale Street
A charming four bedroom Victorian freehold townhouse located moments away from Kings Road and Burton Court. The property is immaculately presented and arranged over four floors only, with excellent entertaining space and well balanced bedroom accommodation. £4,250,000
Durham House, Durham Street
A very special 5 bedroom apartment, overlooking Burton Court playing fields with a resident caretaker and private parking. The property is arranged over two floors, with the magnificent Drawing Room overlong the green frontage whilst the kitchens/breakfast room overlooks the secluded communal patio area to the rear. Downstairs provides substantial and adaptable bedroom accommodation with the flexibility of four bedrooms and an additional studio flat that can be entered independently. Access to Burton Court is by separate arrangement. £4,500,000.
Tite Street
A substantial low built five bedroom freehold family house with the benefit of a leasehold garage. This special house is set back behind a front patio garden and is generously proportioned over four floors only, providing easy and flexible living in the heart of Chelsea. The kitchen and reception areas are particularly good offering extremely large open plan living on one level. £7,250,000.
For more information on any of these properties, please email info@roseandpartners.co.uk or call +44 (0)7752 727957