A GENERATION ago, it was said that London had few great private houses in comparison to Paris because so many, such as Devonshire House, had been demolished between the wars or consigned to institutional use. But, in recent years, a growing number of large mansions around the capital have been turned back into family homes. A splendid example is No 15, Kensington Palace Gardens, which had been used as a diplomatic residence from 1949 and was then left empty. In 2006, it was purchased by the current owners. Now, it has not only been sumptuously revived inside and out, but equipped with all the rooms that are today expected of a house of this standing— many of which would have been unimaginable to its Victorian owner, the lace-manufacturer and philanthropist George Moore.
Kensington Palace Gardens was developed on the site of the old kitchen garden at Kensington Palace, closed after the Prince Consort consolidated the royal kitchen gardens at Frogmore in Windsor Great Park. ‘From its great breadth, imposing aspect, and the correct taste displayed throughout,’ the broad avenue designed by James Pennethorne was set ‘to become a most aristocratic neighbourhood’— in the eyes of the Illustrated London News of 1846. The road was soon known as Millionaires’ Row, a more accurate description, as the new residents would be railway contractors, industrialists, builders and businessmen like Moore: merchant princes rather than actual peers.
Denne historien er fra August 02, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 02, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds