Holland Park Avenue
Encyclopedia
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a central London borough of Royal borough status. After the City of Westminster, it is the wealthiest borough in England....
, in west central London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The street runs from Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name.- Location :...
in the east to the Holland Park Roundabout in the west, and forms a part of the old west road connecting London with Oxford and the west of England.
Holland Park Avenue's present design was laid out in the 19th century. Despite being a busy traffic artery, the street is elegantly lined with large well-established plane trees
Platanus
Platanus is a small genus of trees native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae....
and boasts attractive terraces of large Victorian townhouses, as well as numerous high-end shops and restaurants.
Politically, Holland Park Avenue is located at the boundaries of four CAS wards: Norland, Holland, Pembridge, and Camden.
To the south of the street is Holland Park
Holland Park
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...
, one of London's largest and most romantic parks, featuring a Japanese Garden, Opera House, and numerous peacocks.
History
The street was largely rural until the 19th century. Most of the surrounding neighbourhood was formerly the grounds of the JacobeanJacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
Holland House. In the later decades of the 19th century the owners of the house sold off land for residential development, and the district which evolved took its name from the house. Holland Park
Holland Park
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...
was for the most part comfortably upper middle class
Upper middle class
The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term "lower middle class", which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum, and to the broader term "middle...
when originally developed and in recent decades has gone further upmarket.
Of the 19th century residential developments of the area one of the most architecturally interesting is The Royal Crescent
Royal Crescent (Holland Park)
The Royal Crescent is a Grade II* listed street in Holland Park, west London, England, consisting of two curved facing terraces in a crescent shape. The crescent is located on the north side of Holland Park Avenue, west of Addison Avenue, and to the east of the Holland Park Roundabout.Between the...
, designed in 1839, and located just north of Holland Park Avenue. Clearly inspired by its older namesake in Bath, it differs from the Bath crescent in that it is not strictly a true crescent
Crescent
In art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circular disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points .In astronomy, a crescent...
but rather two quadrant
Quadrant (architecture)
Quadrant in architecture refers to a curve in a wall or a vaulted ceiling. Generally considered to be an arc of 90 degrees - one quarter of a circle, or a half of the more commonly seen architectural feature - a crescent....
terraces each terminated by a circular bow in the Regency style
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
. Architecturally, Royal Crescent incorporates parts of the north side of Holland Park Avenue and was designed by planner Robert Cantwell. The stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
fronted crescent and its neighbours on Holland Park Avenue are painted white, in the style of the many Nash
John Nash (architect)
John Nash was a British architect responsible for much of the layout of Regency London.-Biography:Born in Lambeth, London, the son of a Welsh millwright, Nash trained with the architect Sir Robert Taylor. He established his own practice in 1777, but his career was initially unsuccessful and...
terraces which can be seen elsewhere in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's smarter residential areas. Today many of these four storey
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
houses have been converted to apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
s, though a few remain as private houses. The Royal Crescent, and the terraces on Holland Park Avenue which adjoin it, are listed Grade 2*.
Holland Park Avenue now forms the main artery for one of the most expensive residential districts in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
or indeed anywhere in the world, with large houses regularly listed for sale at well over ten million pounds sterling. A number of countries maintain embassies in the neighbourhood.
Shopping
Holland Park Avenue is home to a variety of stores, restaurants, cafes and estate agents as well as more specialist stores. It is the location of the upmarket butcher Lidgate, as well as the baker Maison Blanc, and the independent bookseller Daunt books.Transport links
Holland Park Avenue is the site of Holland Park tube stationHolland Park tube station
Holland Park is a London Underground station. On the Central Line, it lies between Shepherd's Bush and Notting Hill Gate stations, in Travelcard Zone 2.-History:...
which is on the Central line
Central Line
The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...
, and at its western end, across Holland Park Roundabout, is the recently rebuilt Shepherd's Bush tube station, also on the Central Line. The avenue is also on the route of the 94, 31 and 148 buses as well as the night bus N207 and the 24 hour Oxford Tube (Coach) service. There are several bus stops along both sides of Holland Park Avenue and although there are no taxi ranks on the street itself it is easy to hail a Black Cab
Hackney carriage
A hackney or hackney carriage is a carriage or automobile for hire...
almost anywhere.
Restaurants
There are many places on Holland Park Avenue where food can be purchased, there is a Starbucks near the Tube Station, there is a Paul, a Tesco (mini), a Patisserie Valerie, Mr. Pumpernink pizza and many more places to eatExternal links
- Map of Holland Park - the word "Kensington" is printed across the middle of Holland Park. KensingtonKensingtonKensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
is a large district and Holland Park is a subsection of it. The heart of London is off the map to the right. - The local council's page on the park
- The Royal Crescent, Holland Park, at www.hollandparkliving.co.uk
- Shopping on Holland Park Avenue at www.allinlondon.co.uk