Queen's Park and St. Peter's Park.
The districts
described below covered respectively the north-west
corner and the middle of the north part of the metropolitan borough of Paddington, constituting Queen's
Park and Harrow Road wards in 1901. (fn. 26) Queen's
Park had no administrative connexion with the nearby open space of that name, in Willesden, (fn. 27) and until
1900 lay within Chelsea detached. St. Peter's Park
was formerly the name of a characterless suburb
around Walterton Road (fn. 28) and has often been considered part of Maida Vale, (fn. 29) from which, however,
it differed in both origins and social status.
Until the spread of building in the mid 19th century, the area consisted of fields stretching westward
from the Bayswater rivulet, bounded by Harrow
Road to the south and by Kilburn Lane to the west
and north-west. (fn. 30) Westbourne green lay along Harrow Road to the south-east. Whereas the eastern part
of Paddington, including the area treated above as
Maida Vale, belonged to the bishop of London, most
of the parish west of the rivulet lay within Westminster abbey's Westbourne manor. (fn. 31) The northern
part of Chelsea detached belonged to All Souls'
College, Oxford. (fn. 32)
In the 1740s all the fields were pasture, except a
wooded enclosure beside Kilburn Lane almost opposite Kilburn wood, and the few farm buildings were
all on the Willesden side of the lane. (fn. 33) The Grand
Junction canal was later cut just south of Harrow
Road, leaving much less than half of Chelsea detached to the south. Between the road and the canal
there was a small triangle of land in the west, a narrow strip across most of Chelsea detached, and a
much wider piece farther east towards Westbourne
green. In 1828, apart from a short row of houses at
Orme's green, constituting an outpost of Westbourne
green, the countryside remained open. (fn. 34)
In the triangle between the canal, Harrow Road,
and Kilburn Lane along the boundary, a new Italianate villa stood by 1835. Called Kensal House and
occupied by Alfred Haines in 1841, (fn. 35) it was unusually
large for its position, hemmed in by 1865 between
housing along Kilburn Lane to the west and canalside buildings to the east. The houses along Kilburn
Lane amounted to an extension of Kensal New
Town, (fn. 36) which had been built between 1835 and
1850 over the southern part of Chelsea detached (fn. 37)
and which in 1900 was transferred to Kensington
metropolitan borough. (fn. 38) The new town was served
from 1843-4 by St. John's church, (fn. 39) which in 1865
stood with only two nearby houses and the National
school on the east side of Kilburn Lane north of
Harrow Road, although there was much more building along the west side. The rest of Chelsea detached
was fields, apart from a wharf near the south-east
corner, with buildings opposite on the north side of
Harrow Road, and a single building on the northern
boundary in Kilburn Lane. (fn. 40)
The north-western part of Paddington parish was
still rural in 1840, although there was a plan to extend Elgin Road (later Elgin Avenue) from Maida
Vale across the lands of Westbourne manor to the
later junction with Harrow Road. (fn. 41) Building spread
northward from Westbourne green during the 1860s,
as the Neeld family followed the example of the
lessees of the Paddington Estate. (fn. 42) Growth was
matched by a westward spread along the south side
of Harrow Road, from the Lock hospital beyond
Orme's green to Carlton Crescent (later Terrace). (fn. 43)
St. Peter's Park was by 1865 the name, commemorating the lordship of Westminster abbey, of a
projected suburb north of Harrow Road, from the
Bayswater rivulet to Chelsea detached. A few straight
avenues leading from Harrow Road had been
planned, although not yet built up: Malvern (soon
renamed Chippenham) Road and, from a convergence farther west, an extension of Elgin Road, St.
Peter's (renamed Walterton) Road, and the southernmost stretch of the future Fernhead Road; to the
west, part of Ashmore Road, also as yet unnamed,
had been begun. (fn. 44)
The first leases, for 99 years, were made in 1865
by Sir John Neeld, on the nomination of Edward
Vigers, a builder or timber merchant of Tavistock
Lodge, Great Western Road. They were mostly to
Thomas or Luke Muncey, for terraced houses of
three storeys over a basement along the north side of
Harrow Road, forming Chippenham Terrace, and in
Marylands Road, and for two-storeyed houses in
Chippenham Mews. (fn. 45) Neeld thereafter made leases
to many local builders, often in association with
Vigers, who in turn subleased. (fn. 46) The Goldney
family, some of whom were Wiltshire neighbours of
the Neelds, was also involved: (fn. 47) in 1869 land between Edbrooke and Goldney roads was leased by
Neeld to Vigers and mortgaged by Vigers to Francis
Hastings Goldney of Chippenham. (fn. 48)
By 1869 there were houses along much of Chippenham Road and at the west ends of Elgin Road,
where St. Peter's church had been allotted its existing site, Marylands Road, and Sutherland Gardens.
All three roads led towards Shirland Road, which
approximately followed the line of the Bayswater
rivulet bounding the bishop's estate. Most of Goldney Road had been built up and some other short
linking roads had been named. Neither Fernhead
nor Ashmore roads stretched very far, but Saltram
Crescent had been planned to run north to Kilburn
Lane. (fn. 49) There were houses on the west side of Shirland Road, at the south end, by 1870. (fn. 50)
Vigers, who had been speculating in land in north
Kensington at the west end of Westbourne Park
Road since 1860, (fn. 51) found the building of St. Peter's
Park a risky enterprise. He had to construct roads
and sewers, besides a bridge over the canal (Carlton
bridge), which would provide access by omnibus but
which caused a dispute with the vestry about rights
of way. Some of the small builders to whom he had
subleased were in trouble from 1868, Vigers himself
was forced to negotiate a further loan in 1870, and
over a quarter of the builders on the estate failed
between 1870 and 1872. (fn. 52)
Building activity revived in the mid 1870s, after
Vigers's bankruptcy had been averted by the Neeld
trustees. (fn. 53) In 1886 the northern parts of Ashmore
and Fernhead (then to be called Neeld) roads had
no buildings, except St. Luke's church between
them by Kilburn Lane, and neither had Saltram
Crescent. (fn. 54) There were still gaps along the middle
stretch of Saltram Crescent and to either side of
Marban Road, leading west from Fernhead Road,
in 1891, (fn. 55) although they had been filled by 1901. (fn. 56)
Housing was put up mostly by small builders, (fn. 57) to
whom the Ecclesiastical Commissioners at Vigers's
direction granted terms of c. 98 years. Between 1882
and 1895 there were many leases of houses in Saltram
Crescent and Fernhead Road, and from 1890 in their
connecting roads, Croxley and Denholme roads. (fn. 58)
St. Peter's Park was begun with some substantial
terraces near Harrow Road. Parts came to suffer
from a cramped layout, however, and much housing
was soon neglected. (fn. 59) Walterton Road in the 1880s
was a 'dreary thoroughfare', where small grey houses
were approached by tall flights of steps and had bay
windows, many with cards advertising services 'from
the letting of lodgings to the tuning of pianos'. Although the description was aimed at stressing the
superiority of Bayswater, (fn. 60) St. Peter's Park in general
retained a reputation for being dismal, or at least
dull. (fn. 61) It made a fit setting for the plight of the poet
Francis Thompson (1859-1907), who lodged briefly
in Fernhead Road and, from 1897, with different
landladies in Elgin Avenue and its neighbourhood. (fn. 62)
Subletting had led to deterioration throughout the
area by the 1890s, although there was little real hardship. In the eastern part well-to-do households lined
Sutherland and Elgin avenues, as in the Maida Vale
stretches of those roads, and Harrow Road and
Grittleton Road. There were also some well-to-do
residents in Marylands Road and its southern offshoots, and in Chippenham and Walterton roads.
Elsewhere, including the slightly newer part west of
Chippenham Road, residents were 'fairly comfortable'. Houses were mostly of nine rooms and might
be let to two or three families, often clerks, agents,
or well paid artisans. Poverty was confined to the
long Chippenham Mews behind Harrow Road, to
Barnsdale Mews, to the angle between Chippenham
and Walterton roads, and to Shirland Mews, and in
those places some residents were comfortable. (fn. 63)
Meanwhile Queen's Park had been built up, comparatively quickly, by the Artizans', Labourers', and
General Dwellings Co. Two adjoining blocks of land,
49½ a. and c. 24 a., were bought in 1874-5 from All
Souls' College. (fn. 64) Presumably they accounted for the
80 a. whose purchase was announced, together with
the name of the estate and plans to accommodate
16,000 people, in 1874. The site, chosen partly for
its accessibility by road and rail, was to have treelined roads, with 4 a. in the centre reserved for
recreation. Gardening was to be encouraged and
there was to be provision for an institute, cooperative stores, coal depot, dairy farm, baths, and
reading rooms, but no public house. (fn. 65) Avenues
numbered from 1 to 6 were laid out leading north
from Harrow Road and were joined by long crossstreets, at first called merely by the letters A to P
but soon given names in alphabetical order. (fn. 66)
Building took place in several roads at the same
time. Houses were dated 1873 and 1874 on the east
side and 1876 on the west side of Sixth Avenue, 1880
in Fifth Avenue, 1875 in Caird Street at the east end
of the estate, and 1876 in Oliphant Street at the far
end and in a nearby shopping parade in Kilburn
Lane. (fn. 67) Financial difficulties in 1877 brought delays,
rent increases, and building on the intended open
space, but renewed progress had led to the completion of 1,571 houses by 1882, when a further 449
were under construction. (fn. 68) The whole area west of
First Avenue had been built up by 1886. (fn. 69)
Queen's Park, like the company's other four residential parks in London, was the result of a well
supported effort to improve working-class conditions. It came to be seen as a success, both in encouraging the company to buy land for the Noel
Park estate in Tottenham (fn. 70) and in comparison with
the squalor of much canalside housing, including
Kensal New Town, and with the dinginess of St.
Peter's Park. (fn. 71) All 2,200 houses at Queen's Park were
occupied in 1887, when the rents were much lower
than those nearby. (fn. 72) In 1899 the estate was 'carefully
sustained in respectability', there was a waiting list
for tenancies, and rents were never in arrear. Tenants
were church or chapel goers and in regular work, as
artisans, clerks, policemen, or railwaymen. Only a
fifth of the inabitants lived in poverty, compared
with more than 55 per cent in Kensal New Town,
and those that did so may have lived outside the
company's estate, around Herries Street. (fn. 73)
The north-east corner of Chelsea detached had
been acquired by 1874 by the United Land Co., (fn. 74)
which eventually laid out Beethoven, Mozart, Herries, and Lancefield streets. The terraced houses
were tightly packed: a few, facing Kilburn Lane,
were to be worth £500 and the rest £300. Less than
half of the plots, towards the northern end, had been
numbered by c. 1883 (fn. 75) but Beethoven and Mozart
streets had been built up by 1886. (fn. 76) Both poor and
comfortable households existed c. 1899 in Beethoven,
Herries, and Lancefield streets. (fn. 77)
In the period between the World Wars Queen's
Park changed very little, its rented houses continuing
to be in demand, (fn. 78) while the name St. Peter's Park
apparently fell into disuse. A statement made in
1931, that housing westward from Maida Vale
deteriorated until it finally became working-class in
the north-west corner of the borough, (fn. 79) implied that
St. Peter's Park was superior. Subletting had presumably continued, however, since in 1931 there was
a density of from 1 to 1.25 persons to a room between
Chippenham Road and Bravington Road, whereas
the whole of Queen's Park had less than one person to a room; only the eastern part of St. Peter's
Park and an area in the north between Saltram
Crescent and Fernhead Road had a density as low as
that of Queen's Park. (fn. 80)
Damage to Queen's Park during the Second World
War included destruction by a land mine at the corner of Ilbert and Peach streets, where Paddington
council was building Queen's Park Court in 1951. (fn. 81)
The company changed its name to the Artizans' and
General Properties Co. in 1952 (fn. 82) and, having already
sold to the council more than 200 houses and sites
cleared during the war, disposed of its remaining
Queen's Park properties in 1964. Willesden acquired
146 maisonettes and Paddington the rest of the
estate, including 1,800 weekly rented houses and
flats, 80 shops, 2 halls, and 32 ground rents. (fn. 83) In
1978 the houses along most of the southern edge of
the estate, between Droop Street and Harrow Road
from Sixth Avenue almost to Third Avenue, made
way for Westminster's Avenue Gardens, (fn. 84) consisting
of 11 blocks named after trees. Widespread improvements to the older houses in Queen's Park were
planned in 1982. (fn. 85)
Greater changes took place farther east, with the
clearance of parts of St. Peter's Park for municipal
housing. (fn. 86) The triangle between Harrow Road, Elgin
Avenue, and Chippenham Road, containing some of
Paddington's worst housing, was earmarked in 1966
for 300 maisonettes and flats by the G.L.C. It was
rapidly built up with the Elgin (originally called
Walterton Road) estate, whose first tenants arrived
in 1968. On the border of Queen's Park, between
Lancefield Street and Third Avenue, Westminster
council in 1970 began work on the Mozart estate,
where 172 dwellings housed 646 people by 1972. The
estate was intended for 3,450 residents and was later
extended northward as far as Kilburn Lane. The
completed estate formed a rectangle bisected by
Dart Street, St. Jude's church having been demolished and the north-south Lancefield and Herries
streets reduced to short cul-de-sacs. It was served by
new shops and the Magic Flute public house, and
on the south adjoined the Jubilee sports centre. A
little to the south-east the 225 homes of the G.L.C.'s
Lydford estate were built by 1977. They too formed
a rectangle, south of Shirland Road between Fernhead and Ashmore roads, superimposed on older
streets.
Renovation was carried out from 1965 by Mulberry Housing Trust, which had converted c. 270
properties into c. 950 flats by 1973, (fn. 87) when it also
opened a children's centre at the junction of Shirland and Fernhead roads. (fn. 88) Work was continued by
St. Marylebone Housing Association, whose programme in 1984 provided for the eventual provision
of 914 flats in north Paddington, forming its Mulberry estate. The largest numbers were in the area
comprising Ashmore Road (140 flats), the parallel
Portnall (88), Fernhead (84), and Bravington (63)
roads, Saltram Crescent (63), and their cross-roads,
but there were many to the south-east in Sutherland
Avenue (63), Marylands Road (61), and their neighbourhood. A four-storeyed block of 10 flats and a
headquarters for the association were being built at
no. 103 Fernhead Road in 1984. (fn. 89)
Other conversions into flats around Bravington,
Portnall, and Ashmore roads were carried out from
1975 by Brent People's Housing Association. All the
association's properties in Paddington were for rent
except 40 in Shirland Mews, which passed into
shared ownership. In 1985 it had c. 490 housing
units in that area, with other houses awaiting conversion, and planned to build on the sites of a school,
the Kensal Road baths, and the gardens in Warlock
Road. (fn. 90) Paddington Churches Housing Association
opened Ernest Harriss House, with a day centre and
61 housing units for old people, next to St. Peter's
church in 1977. (fn. 91)
Smaller projects included the flats of the 1950s
called Sutherland Court in Marylands Road, (fn. 92) the
building of Paddington (later part of North Westminster) school nearby in Oakington Road, and the
rebuilding of St. Luke's and St. Peter's churches. (fn. 93)
Abinger Mews replaced older houses at the northeast end of Walterton Road, behind which terraces
in the triangle between Walterton, Chippenham, and
Warlock roads were to be cleared in 1982 by the
G.L.C. (fn. 94) A private estate called Marble House was
built between Walterton Road and Elgin Avenue,
cutting off the eastern end of Barnsdale Road.
Most of Queen's Park, declared a conservation
area in 1978, (fn. 95) remains as it was built for the Artizans', Labourers', and General Dwellings Co. by
Hubert Austin and then by Roland Plumbe. The
houses are two-storeyed terraces of red and yellow
brick in 'minimum Gothic', (fn. 96) enlivened by turrets at
some of the street corners, and many bear a date or
the company's monogram. Their simple design derives from that of the smaller Shaftesbury Park
estate at Battersea. (fn. 97) Although pollarded plane trees
survive, the wider and longer streets have been
criticized as monotonous. (fn. 98)
Rebuilding in Queen's Park has consisted chiefly
of Queen's Park Court, red-brick blocks of six
storeys or less, and Avenue Gardens, pale brownbrick ranges of three or four storeys surrounding the
Victorian library and for most of their length facing
a strip which has been cleared along the canal bank
between nos. 487 and 525 (the Flora hotel) Harrow
Road. East of St. John's church at no. 742 Harrow
Road is the London Telecommunications Region's
Ladbroke Exchange, opened in 1939. (fn. 99) Almost opposite is Kensal House, the only former gentleman's
residence in the area. The original Italianate house
contains three storeys over a basement and is of brick
and stucco, the main façade having seven bays, a
prominent cornice, and a Corinthian porch. A 19thcentury wing has been added to the east and a
modern one to the west. (fn. 1) After serving as a school,
the house was occupied by the Metropolitan Railway
Surplus Lands Co. by 1949, (fn. 2) stood empty when
owned by the United Church of God in Christ by
1965, (fn. 3) and was owned by the I.C.E. Group in 1985.
Greater change has taken place immediately east
of Queen's Park, (fn. 4) most notably with the construction
of the Mozart estate, 40 buildings of two to six
storeys, faced with red brick, whose design won a
government award in 1973. The nearby Lydford
estate, 20 three-storeyed ranges around four closes
and also in red brick, received a similar award in
1977. Farther east, in contrast, the Elgin estate includes the 21-storeyed tower blocks called Chantry
Point and Hermes Point, built of storey-high lightweight glass reinforced plastic panels, with distinctive round-cornered windows. Although the panels
were 'unprecedented in lightness and elegance', (fn. 5) the
windows quickly needed to be replaced and the
blocks showed signs of wear in 1985. Other modern
buildings include the four-storeyed brown-brick
ranges of Marble House, the yellow-brick terrace
called Abinger Mews, the six-storeyed brown-brick
block of Ernest Harriss House, and the striking redbrick Mulberry Centre.
Most of the former St. Peter's Park, which has a
large coloured population, still consists of 19thcentury terraces, served by shops in Harrow Road
and smaller groups in Shirland Road around its
junctions with Elgin Avenue and Fernhead Road.
Houses at the west ends of Sutherland Avenue,
Marylands Road, and Elgin Avenue are mainly in
Italianate terraces of three or occasionally four
storeys over basements, with pillared porches, in the
style of Westbournia. A few cross-streets, including
Goldney Road, Surrendale Place, and Sevington
Street, have similar terraces; some, including Edbrooke Road, have less imposing ones without
porches, and others, including Oakington and
Thorngate roads, have only two-storeyed rows. The
avenues leading towards Maida Vale are straight,
wide, and still partly tree-lined. Walterton Road,
whose Italianate terraces are without porches, is
bleaker and more in need of refurbishment. Its
houses are of three storeys over basements, whereas
surviving houses in the cross-streets Errington,
Barnsdale, and Warlock roads are all one storey
lower. Shirland Road consists mainly of 19th-century
terraces and shops. The north-west end of the area
is packed with late 19th-century three-storeyed terraces, the earlier ones with basements and the later
ones with bay windows; in Saltram Crescent, St.
Simon's church has been converted into private flats.