South Kensington Living
South Kensington property
Here are some of the most important issues relating to South Kensington property.
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South Kensington property building boomSouth Kensington property, with its streets and squares of imposing period houses, looks like it has been London’s residential heart forever. But in Jane Austen’s day, this would have been open fields. At the time of the Napoleonic Wars London did not extend out much further than Westminster. It was as the Industrial Revolution gathered steam (literally and metaphorically) in the Victorian 19th century that the residential South Kensington property we see today came into existence. |
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Speculators in South Kensington propertyToday it may seem as if South Kensington residential property was a sure-fire investment. In fact, it was highly speculative. Some builders of South Kensington residential property became rich men. But rather more South Kensington residential property developers were bankrupted. There were frequent booms and busts in the South Kensington residential property market. A builder who had constructed streets of properties on borrowed money went bust when the demand vanished. |
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The estate owners as the winners in South Kensington propertyThe winners were the estate owners. They let the land on ground rents to builders. It was the South Kensington residential property builders who took on all the risk. When, after 50 years or more, the area was clearly established, the leases came to an end, all the South Kensington residential property reverted to the original landowner’s family who became incredibly rich. The Grosvenors, the Portmans and the Cadogans were originally either very minor nobility or just people who happened to own farm land in the right place at the right time.
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Railways as the engine for growth in South Kensington propertyThe construction of residential property west of Hyde Park or north of Oxford Street was considered highly dubious and speculative in the early 19th century because of the distance on foot from what was then Central London (the City and Westminster). It was the introduction of trains which allowed for the expansion of residential London. South Kensington residential property was not always a financial gold mine. Many of the builders who constructed South Kensington residential property bet their shirts and lost everything when periodic collapses in the South Kensington residential property market occurred. |
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Much South Kensington property is still leaseholdMany of the original estates have almost vanished from memory because they were sold off piecemeal. The Grosvenors and the Cadogans were more longsighted and even today maintain close control over their Central London estates. Some South Kensington residential property in an original estate area may be leasehold. If you buy leasehold South Kensington property, recent legislation means you are entitled to extend your lease (for a price) and all the flat owners in a South Kensington residential property can club together to buy the freehold. Nonetheless, in many South Kensington residential property areas the estates still control the appearance of the streets, generally enforcing uniformity of paint colour.
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Basic designs for South Kensington property developmentMost Victorian street developments of South Kensington residential property followed a similar pattern. Houses were built in rows, along streets or round specially constructed squares. A South Kensington residential property might have a small front area, but not a considerable front garden. Most squares of South Kensington residential property were constructed with the houses grouped round it and facing onto it. But later Victorian developers, constructed estates of South Kensington residential property with “hidden gardens” between the backs of the houses and to which the houses had rear access. |
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Facades of South Kensington propertyGenerally all the attention went into the front façade of South Kensington property, with elaborate cornices and window decoration. The back of a South Kensington residential property was generally left as bare brick and barely decorated. This changed as the focus moved to gardens behind the properties in late Victorian times and then South Kensington residential property came to acquire similarly elaborate back facades. |
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South Kensington property was built with mews for stablingIn Victorian England transport was by horse and cab and richer families had their own stables. Just as a modern development would not be complete without a row of private garages tucked away at the back, so Victorian development had mews properties in small rows behind the grander streets where the horses were kept, and where the stable hands lived in rooms above. This type of South Kensington residential property has now almost all been converted to individual homes. |
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Maintaining and altering South Kensington propertyA lot of South Kensington residential property is considered historic or of architectural importance and, as a result, is listed. If a South Kensington residential property is Grade I then even internal redecoration may require detailed supervision by the Council and English Heritage of materials and work. Most listed South Kensington is Grade II which means approval is needed for any alterations. Doing works to a listed South Kensington residential property without such approval is a criminal offence. Planning permission is needed for any external alterations (mansard roofs, altering windows, adding extensions) to a South Kensington residential property (even if it isn't listed) but not for most internal works. For South Kensington residential property which isn't listed at all, then you may still need building regulation consent - approval by the local council building surveyor that the works meet the necessary building standards - for most types of work beyond the purely cosmetic to South Kensington property. |
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South Kensington property in the 21st centuryThere are three general categories of South Kensington residential property today. Most mews have been converted to houses. Then there has been new South Kensington residential property built in the last two decades, often in private 'gated' developments. This type of South Kensington residential property development relies on the continuing popularity of mews houses to some extent. Both these types provide South Kensington residential property of a size suitable for today's small families. Some original Victorian South Kensington property, originally built to be opulent houses, have survived as houses till the 21st century precisely because they were always the grandest houses from the start. Such South Kensington residential property is likely to be fairly enormous and therefore most suitable to a Middle Eastern prince or a Russian billionaire. Most South Kensington residential property which was constructed as houses has now been converted to flats. |
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