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 with some of the most expensive properties in the world. It was the location of the London Cage, the British government MI19 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 often cited as the "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-2012, current market prices for a property on the street average over £22 million.^[1]

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.

Background

The road was originally called The Queen's Road and was renamed 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 Cambridge, 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,^[2] 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.^[3]

The mansion at 18 Kensington Palace Gardens, historically belonging to the Rothschild family, was sold in 2001.^[4]

Formerly, this house was owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One racing boss. On 8 October 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 and after World War II and was known as the London Cage. The house was demolished in 1961 and replaced by a glass-and-steel block of four apartments designed by Richard Seifert and completed in 1964. Flat 3 was on the market in 2006 as a three-bedroom apartment designed by international architect David Chipperfield,^[5] valued at a minimum of £13.25 million through Knight Frank,^[6][7] which sold in March 2007 for £10.29m.^[8]

Chancery of the Russian Federation

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. Entry of pedestrians is not normally controlled, only vehicles. This has the side effect of leading to extremely low traffic volumes for a central London street. Some of the buildings sometimes also have barriers to keep vehicles at a distance. Unlike most nearby streets, it is not covered by Google Street View.^[9]

The street is lit by very dim Victorian gaslight-style streetlights.

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 — Block of 4 private apartments built in 1961–4, each on two floors. Past residents include Carole and Neville Conrad (Flat 3, 1996–2007) and reportedly Michael Grade as a child.
• 9 — Official residence of the High Commissioner from India
• 10 — Jonathan Hunt, founder of Foxtons, bought in 2005 for £14m, with plans for an underground extension under the back garden.^[10][11]
• 11 — Official residence of the Ambassador of France
• 12 — Saudi royal family^[12] - possibly Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd, who may also own 5 Palace Green.^[13]
• 12a — Embassy of Nepal. Built in 1863–5 by architect James Murray and gifted to the Nepalese in 1937 in appreciation of the Gurkhas. Rumoured in April 2013 as being considered for sale for £100m to £180m.^[14]

Residence of the Russian Ambassador

• 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.^[15]
• 15b — Leonard Blavatnik

West side of Kensington Palace Gardens

18–19 Kensington palace gardens, residence of Lakshmi Mittal.

• 15a — Wang Jianlin, bought for £80 million in December 2015.^[16]
• 16 — Roman Abramovich. Said to have been bought in August 2011 for £90 million from hedge-fund manager Pierre Lagrange.^[17]
• 17 – Leased since 2008 from the Crown Estate by Joseph Hackmey, Israeli businessman and art collector,^[18][19] but occupied by Pierre Lagrange's former wife Catherine Lagrange.^[20]
• 18–19 — Lakshmi Mittal. Purchased in 2004 for £67 million (US$128 million)—made it the world's most expensive house at the time.^[21] 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, art dealer(1995–2001); Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1 chief (2001–2004).^[22] 51°30′25.41″N 0°11′29.80″W / 51.5070583°N 0.1916111°W, Bird's eye view
• 20 — Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei. The number eight can be seen on the roof. 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

Embassy of Slovakia

1 Palace Green, designed by Philip Webb

• 25 —Embassy of Slovakia
• 26–30 — Embassy of the Czech Republic

Palace Green

• 1 — 1 Palace Green, built by architect Philip Webb in 1870 for George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle. Divided into apartments in 1957.^[23] Current residents: Nik Holford and others
• 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.^[24]
• 4 — Embassy of Romania 51°30′14.36″N 0°11′23.85″W / 51.5039889°N 0.1899583°W
• 5 — Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd of Saudi Arabia (who may also own 12 Kensington Palace Gardens). Offered for sale for £100 million in July 2013.^[25]
• 6 — Lakshmi Mittal. Bought from Noam Gottesman, hedge-fund trader for £117 million, for the use of Mittal's son, Aditya.^[26] Sale said to have later fallen through.^[27] In 2013 Mittal was reported to be seeking a buyer for the house for £120 million.^[25]
• 8 — Tamara Ecclestone. Bought in 2011 for £45 million, with a further £18 million spent on renovations.^[28]
• 9a — Lakshmi Mittal. Former building of Embassy of the Philippines. Mittal bought it for £70 million in 2008, for his daughter Vanisha.^[29] 51°30′18.81″N 0°11′26.71″W / 51.5052250°N 0.1907528°W
• 10 — Official residence of the Ambassador of Norway.^[30]

See also

• List of most expensive streets by city
• The Bishops Avenue

References

1. "Where are Britain's most expensive houses? And why?" money.aol.co.uk. 6 September 2012.
2. "$128M Spend for London House". MSNBC. 12 April 2004.
3. Meek, James (17 April 2006). "Super rich". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
4. If you have to ask the price The Daily Telegraph, By Ross Clark, 1 Aug 2001
5. McInerney Architects projects
6. Where £10m is 'a snip', Daily Telegraph, 28 June 2006
7. The modernist ideal, The Spectator, 22 July 2006
8. Zoopla - house prices for post code W8 4QP
9. Google Street View, accessed 08 January 2016.
10. Foxtons owner plans multi-million pound underground extension to London home, Daily Mail, 10 September 2007
11. 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.
12. Super Rich, The Guardian, 17 April 2006
13. The Times, 29 July 2013, Billionaire Saudi’s £100m London home up for sale
14. South West News Service, 24 Apr 2013
15. Jonathan Prynn, £200m home fit for Britain's second-richest man: 13 bedrooms, armoured glass and its own multi-storey carpark, Evening Standard, 29 April 2013
16. Prynn, Jonathan (19 December 2015). "Chinese billionaire buys £80m London home and he'll spend £50m more doing it up". Evening Standard. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
17. Ryan Kisiel, Chelsea FC boss Roman Abramovich buys £90m home on Britain's most expensive street, Daily Mail, 29 August 2011.
    Lawrence Hall, Could Abramovich be eyeing a Kensington Palace Gardens home?, Zoopla, 18 August 2011
    Mira Bar-Hillel, Roman's roamings, The London magazine, 11 January 2013 - link corrected 2015-08-28
18. Land Registry charges register for title BGL72681, checked 2015-08-28
19. The Guardian, 26 November 2012: How secret offshore firms feed London's property boom
20. RBKC planning application for 17 Kensington Palace Gardens, dated 04/07/2102
21. "$128M Spend for London House". MSNBC. 12 April 2004.
22. 18–19 Kensington Palace Gardens, Khalili Foundation website.
    Christian Metcalfe, Savills wins £1m commission on Kensington Palace Gardens sale, Estates Gazette, 21 December 2010
23. Kirk, Sheila (2005). Philip Webb: Pioneer of Arts & Crafts Architecture. Chichester: Wiley-Academy. p. 297. ISBN 0470868082.
24. Hasib Sabbagh: construction industry entrepreneur and philanthropist, The Times, 5 February 2010
25. Billionaire Saudi’s £100m London home up for sale, The Times, 29 July 2013
26. Lakshmi Mittal to buy Britain's most expensive house for £117 million, Daily Telegraph, 23 May 2008
27. Mira Bar-Hillel, London's biggest home to be created in Regent's Park, Evening Standard, 2 February 2010.
28. Jaya Narain, Billionaire Bernie Ecclestone: I'm working till I drop because of my daughters' lavish spending, Daily Mail, 17 January 2011
    Lara Gould, Inside Tamara Towers: Ecclestone girl's jaw-dropping £18million home refurb - with motorised shoe racks, bowling alley, nightclub and her doggy spa, Daily Mail, 22 November 2011
29. Steel tycoon buys third property on Billionaire's Row, Evening Standard, 23 June 2008
30. An Exclusive Piece of Norway, Official Norwegian UK website

External links

• Kensington Palace Gardens at the Survey of London online:
  • Historical development
  • Individual buildings
• 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
• Mira Bar-Hillel, The secrets of London's £2.5 billion street, Evening Standard, 10 June 2010
• Stuart Blakely, The Renovation Game: Kensington Palace Gardens, 15 January 2010