Other Features of the Development
Of the two features often considered essential for the
success of a large scheme of development—a church and
a market—the Grosvenor estate initially provided only
the former. In some ways this might have been considered
the less needed, for the large new church of St. George,
Hanover Square, was consecrated in 1725 and the
Grosvenors assisted firstly the 'Fifty Churches' Commissioners and then the authorities of the new parish
after its formation in 1725 in a series of ways. In 1723 they
sold the freehold of one and a half acres near the southern
boundary of their estate to provide a burial ground for the
church. (ref. 301) The price of £315, or £210 per acre, if calculated on the normal basis of thirty years' purchase of an
assumed ground rent of £7 per acre, was little more than
the agricultural value of the land and was well below the
potential value realized in the course of development.
They later also sold the freehold of No. 15 Grosvenor
Street at thirty years' purchase of the ground rent of
£4 10s. to the Commissioners as a residence for the rector
of St. George's, (ref. 302) and allowed a workhouse for the parish
to be built in Mount Street on a ninety-nine-year lease. (ref. 303)
The provision of a chapel near the western boundary
of the estate was, however, planned from the first, (ref. 105) and
when the land for it was made available in 1730 to the
three building tradesmen and Robert Andrews who were
jointly to build it, the words of the agreement made it
plain that spiritual considerations were subordinated
to practical aims. The preamble stated that, 'As well for
the Conveniency and Accomodation of the severall
Tenants or Inhabitants of new Houses lately built . . .
lyeing in and about Grosvenor Square . . . As also for the
Encouraging and promoting of building in Generall upon
such parts of the said Estate as yet remain unbuilt It hath
been adjudged and thought proper to erect a Chappell'. (ref. 203)
Sir Richard Grosvenor assisted the chapel's proprietors
by granting contiguous building land in South Audley
Street to them at very low ground rents, but apart from
reserving pews for his family and servants he did not
directly involve himself in its erection and management,
even though it eventually became known as the Grosvenor
Chapel (Plate 12b; fig. 7 on page 119). In 1732 he sold the
fee simple of its site to the rector and churchwardens of
St. George's as a means of resolving the problem that the
vaults under the chapel could not be consecrated for
burials unless the ground were held freehold by the
parish. (ref. 304)
The burial ground and the sites of the rectory and
chapel were the only parts of the estate sold freehold
during the eighteenth century. Another Anglican proprietary chapel, St. Mary's, was, however, built in 1762
on leasehold ground at the south-east corner of Park
Street and Green Street. (ref. 305)
The Grosvenors did not promote the development of
a market on their estate until the 1780's when Grosvenor
Market, occupying an inconveniently situated site at the
north-east corner of the estate in the northern part of the
triangle bounded by South Molton Lane, Davies Street
and Davies Mews, was erected partly by speculative
building and partly under contract. (ref. 306) It was not a success,
for a rival market called St. George's Market had just
been established to the east of James (now Gilbert) Street.
This was on part of a large plot on the north side of Brook
Street which had been leased in 1726 to Edward Shepherd
for ninety-nine years, and in this lease the only trades
listed as noxious had been those of brewer and melter of
tallow. (ref. 307) The ground landlord therefore had virtually
no control here, and in many other areas of the estate few
trades were restricted and shops had been established
from an early date. A petition by the builders of Grosvenor
Market complained of such shops, particularly those of
butchers, who, the petitioners thought, were defying their
lease covenants, in Oxford Street, Chapel Street, North
and South Audley Streets, North Row, Park Street, Davies
Street, Mount Street and Duke Street. (ref. 308) Both the Westminster poll books of 1749 and a list of householders in
the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, dating from
c. 1790, show that a substantial proportion of the occupants of these and other streets were indeed tradesmen
(see Chapter V). (ref. 309) Grosvenor Market nevertheless
struggled on for some decades, but it gradually ceased to
be a centre for retail trade, and the whole site was redeveloped in 1890.
Taverns and coffee houses were also, originally,
extremely numerous, and the very first building to be
completed on the estate was probably the Mount Coffee
House at the eastern end of Grosvenor Street. (ref. 310) Although
some attempt was made in early building agreements to
restrict them to the mews or minor streets they were soon
to be found in all parts of the estate except Grosvenor
Square. In the main streets they were generally confined
to corner sites where the entrance and sign could be sited
less obtrusively in a side street or alley. (ref. 311) The death in
1739 of Mr. Fellows, master of the Three Tuns tavern in
Grosvenor Street, was reported in The London Daily Post,
where he was described as 'well known among the
Builders; and is said to have died rich'. (ref. 312) Building
workers no doubt provided a large part of the clientele of
such places in the early years.
A supply of water was obtained from the Chelsea
Water Works Company, which was incorporated under
an Act of 1722 and which obtained a royal warrant in
1725 to build a reservoir at the eastern edge of Hyde Park
to supply inter alia the new buildings about Oliver's
Mount (Plate 2). Water for the reservoir came from a
system of basins and canals connected with the Thames
on the Grosvenors' Pimlico property, and at first had to
be raised to the higher levels of Mayfair by horse power
until pumping machinery was installed in 1742. The
reservoir was converted into an ornamental basin with
a fountain in the middle in 1835 and its (much diminished)
site is now occupied by the fountain to the south of
Grosvenor Gate. (ref. 313)
The Chelsea Company's supply was, however, by no
means adequate at all times and for all purposes. In 1742
a man who was employed by the inhabitants of Grosvenor
Street to water the roadway during the summer complained to the Westminster Commissioners of Sewers of
irregularities in supply, 'the said Water not coming in
sometimes for a fortnight together'. He sought permission
to obtain the water which he needed from the common
sewer flowing under Avery Row, and this request was
granted. (ref. 314) Some houses had private wells, as is evidenced
by the fate of John Green, the builder, who drowned
when he fell into one at No. 43 Upper Grosvenor Street.
An ancient conduit pipe, which originally carried water
from springs at Paddington to the City of London, ran
under the north-west corner of the estate a short distance
to the south of Oxford Street. Clauses were written into
agreements and leases of plots in the area protecting the
rights of the proprietors of the London Bridge Water
Works Company (who had been granted a lease of the
conduit system by the City Corporation) to have access
to the pipes and any conduit heads. When the present
No. 449 Oxford Street was being rebuilt in 1875 a conduit
head was discovered underneath the former house on the
site in a good state of preservation, and drawings were
made of it. Another was situated further west, on the east
side of Park Street near the corner with Oxford Street,
and was housed in a building which belonged to the City
Corporation, presumably by right of the medieval charters
granting to the City the ownership of the pipes and other
features of the system. In 1866, when this corner of Park
Street and Oxford Street was first being redeveloped, the
Grosvenor Estate paid £2,470 to the Corporation to buy
the freehold of the ground on which the 'conduit house'
stood. (ref. 315)