Local architecture

About the Royal Borough

The Royal Borough has been described as a Victorian Citadel. It has some outstanding examples from that architectural era.

There are fine examples of Georgian architecture such as Kensington Square. There are also magnificent modern buildings like the Michelin Building on Fulham Road.

Some controversial buildings, like Trellick Tower, dominate the North Kensington skyline.

Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace stands at the western end of Kensington Gardens. Originally called Nottingham House, it passed into royal ownership in 1689 when it was acquired by William and Mary.

The King's asthma dictated a move from Whitehall Palace to the healthier air of Kensington. Sir Christopher Wren was engaged to design improvements to the house. The Clock Court and the South Front, including the 96-foot Long Gallery were added.

After William III's death in 1702 the palace became the home of Queen Anne. Wren designed the Orangery for her and a 30-acre garden was laid out by Henry Wise.

George I had further extensive alterations carried out. William Kent painted the elaborate trompe l'oeil ceilings and staircases.

The last monarch to live at Kensington Palace was George II. His consort, Caroline of Ansbach, influenced the development of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Charles Bridgman created the Serpentine, the Basin and Grand Vista and the Broad Walk for her.

Address

Kensington Palace State Apartments and Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection
The Broad Walk
Kensington Gardens
London
W8 4PX

Contact details

• tel: 0844 482 7799
• fax: 020 3166 6110
• website: http://www.hrp.org.uk/
• email: [email protected]

Places to visit

Crosby Hall

Crosby Hall, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea originally stood in Bishopsgate. It was the Great Hall of the 15th century Crosby Place. 

Shakespeare was familiar with this former city mansion, and wrote it into 'Richard III' as the scene of Gloucester's plotting. The building was occupied by Richard while he was Duke of Gloucester. Later it was owned by Sir Thomas More.

The Hall was moved stone by stone from Bishopsgate to Chelsea in 1910 to rescue it from proposed demolition. It was then incorporated into the buildings of the British Federation of University Women and used as a dining hall. It is now a private house.

Electric Cinema

The Electric Cinema in Portobello Road opened in 1910. It is a Grade II listed building. It is now London's oldest and one of its finest purpose-built cinemas. It recently underwent restoration and now looks much as it did when first opened.

The foyer retains its tiny gilt-domed box office and mosaic floor. This leads to a baroque panelled auditorium with fine plasterwork. The cinema now has new comfortable seating and the latest 35mm projector.

Holland House

Holland House, built in 1605 for Sir Walter Cope and originally known as Cope Castle, was one of the first great houses built in Kensington. The 500 acre estate stretched from Holland Park Avenue to the current site of Earls Court tube station. His son-in-law, Henry Rich, the first Earl of Holland eventually inherited the house.

The Earl was beheaded for his Royalist activities during the Civil War and the house was then used as an army headquarters. It was regularly visited by Oliver Cromwell. After the war, it was owned by various members of the family, renamed Holland House and passed to the Edwardes family in 1721. In 1874 the estate was transferred to the Earl of Ilchester.

Under the 3rd Lord Holland the house became noted as a glittering social, literary and political centre. It had many celebrated visitors such as Byron, Macaulay, Disraeli, Dickens and Sir Walter Scott.

Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother and King George VI attended the last great ball held at the house. This was only a few weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War.

In September 1940, the building was badly hit during a ten hour bombing raid and almost destroyed.

Today the remains form a backdrop for the open air Holland Park Theatre. The theatre offers an annual summer programme of opera and dance.

Churches in Kensington and Chelsea

Brompton Oratory

Brompton Oratory, Brompton Road, Kensington was built in 1882. The Renaissance style buildings comprise:

• a large Italian church, designed by Herbert Gribble
• the house of the Oratorians, and St Wilfred's Hall
• Cardinal Newman's monument, detailed in the Italian Style

Inside, the church is spacious and richly appointed. The general design follows that of the Gesu Church in Rome with a nave and side chapels instead of aisles.

Mazzuoli's 17th century marble statues of the Apostles were originally in Sienna Cathedral. One of the altars came from the Dominican Church in Brescia. Another came from St Servatius at Maastricht, and yet another from the original London Oratory. The High Altar has paintings of the life of St Philip Neri.

Chelsea Old Church (All Saints)

Chelsea Old Church (All Saints). A Norman church probably stood on this site in 1157, but in 1290 it was named All Saints' Church. In 1834, the new parish church of St Luke was completed in Sydney Street. The old church became the parish chapel.

Chelsea Old Church was very severely damaged by bombing in 1941. The More Chapel, a memorial to Sir Thomas More who lived nearby, escaped destruction.

In 1951 it became the church of the new All Saints' parish. Restoration work and rebuilding took place on the old foundations started in 1953. It was completed in 1958 when the whole church was reconsecrated.

The pulpit, altar and altar rails date from the 17th century. A new stem and staircase were added to the pulpit when it was adapted from its original form in 1908. The font dates from 1673, and its cover is a reproduction of the one destroyed in the bombing. The public garden next to the Old Church (Margaret Roper's Garden) commemorates Sir Thomas More's eldest daughter.

Holy Trinity Brompton

Holy Trinity Brompton, was built 1826-29 to designs by T L Donaldson with later extensions. The style is the plainest 'Gothic'. The church was partly paid for by a grant from the Commissioners for Building New Churches. The setting of the church is surprisingly secluded considering its position just off the busy Brompton Road.

Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, built 1888-90 to a design by John Dondo Sedding. It is widely regarded as one of the best examples of Arts and Crafts Movement architecture. It was described by Sir John Betjeman as a 'Cathedral of the Arts and Crafts'.

St Barnabas

St Barnabas parish church in Addison Road is one of Kensington's oldest church buildings. Built in 1828 to designs by Vulliamy, this stock brick building has four corner turrets and Perpendicular tracery. It has a flat ceiling, but there is a remarkable chancel, with two open perpendicular tracery bays. The galleries on three sides are supported on iron columns.

St Columba's Church

St Columba's Church, Pont Street, Chelsea, is one of the newest churches in the Borough. It was designed by Sir Edward Maufe to replace an earlier church destroyed during the war and was completed in 1955.

St Mary Abbots Church

St Mary Abbots Church was the ancient parish church of Kensington and until the early 19th century, the only one. The name was derived from the connection with the Abbey of Abingdon. At the beginning of the 12th century, Godfrey de Vere bequeathed the church and surrounding land. This land, the central part of modern Kensington, became a separate manor of Abbots Kensington.

Little is known of the medieval building which survived until the end of the 17th century. The present church, which is on the site of the earlier buildings, was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and was consecrated in 1872. Seven years later the 254 foot spire, the highest in London, was added. Some interesting 18th-century monuments and the pulpit which dates from 1697 have been retained from the old church.