South Kensington Living
Cornwall Gardens
Cornwall Gardens is one of the largest garden squares in South Kensington. In fact the central garden is split into several sections.
The houses are very tall – up to six-storeys – (plus basement), and are mainly white stucco. The central communal gardens have very high mature trees and the western side of the square is dominated by a very large attractive mansion block with circular balustraded balconies on first and second floor with enormous portico entrances on both the south and the north side which add grandeur to the block. It also has an unusual hipped roof.
Towards the north west corner of Cornwall Gardens is a rather attractive small private paved garden with shrubs at the side and which looks down towards Stanford Road. At the west side of this is a small secret path which actually leads into Stanford Road.
This spot feels like the front-line between Kensington and South Kensington. At the far west end of Cornwall Gardens is a rather unusual terrace of three-storey houses but with the ground floor slightly sunken below ground floor level and with attractive bay windows at first floor. One of them is called the Dial House with an attractive plaque in the shape of a dial at first floor level.
This is the core of the Broadwood Estate.
The Broadwoods did a deal with the building partnership of Thomas Guy Welchman and Robert Gale to build the north side of Cornwall Gardens. (They were later awarded a part of the south side.) The first houses were Nos. 6-9 which were the plots nearest to Gloucester Road on the north side. On the south side they started more or less in the middle and built Nos. 58-74 (consecutive) between 1871 and 1876. Finally they built Nos. 1-5 Cornwall Gardens which were built facing Gloucester Road and backing on to the central communal gardens, in other words, facing east rather than north or south.
The rest of the houses on the south side eastwards to Gloucester Road were built between 1866 and 1870 by John Wilkins (a Pimlico builder) and Thomas Ingram. Thomas Cundy III lived at No. 82 for a time. No. 93, the end of the terrace, No. 94 which faces Gloucester Road and Nos. 96-102 Gloucester Road were built in 1864-1865 by Charles Gray, an architect.
All the houses from this period of building were in an Italianate style with stuccoed façades. The design was probably laid down by Cundy. Since Cundy and Thomas Broadwood lived in Cornwall Gardens after 1870, they probably exerted a hands-on influence.
For some reason, Cornwall Gardens attracted a large number of civil servants involved in the administration of India, and a number of generals.
It had not been possible to continue the development in the far west part of the land because the land was compulsorily acquired for construction of the Metropolitan and District Railway roughly on the line of Stanford Road. But after the underground railway had been constructed and the tunnels covered over, the land was conveyed back in 1875. The development of this final part of the estate was taken on by William Willett, a Hampstead builder. Willett built Nos. 44-50 on the north side in 1876-7 and Nos. 51-57 on the south side in 1876-9. In fact the railway cutting was left open, so that soot from the trains passing underneath were a particular problem for Nos. 47 and 54. In 1932 Nos. 45 and 46 Cornwall Gardens were knocked down and Stanford Court was built in its place, taking in some additional land to the north.
Willett was also allowed to build some houses in the garden land in the central reservation. The houses were known as Cornwall Mansions and consisted of two large detached houses and six smaller properties. Willett built them between 1877 and 1879. The large houses were No. 1 (Garden House) and No. 2 (Cornwall House). These looked on to the main gardens. Before the Second World War the eight houses were converted to flats. Nos. 4, 6 and 8 became Bramer Mansions. Nos. 3, 5 and 7 became Nos. 96,98 and 100 Cornwall Gardens.
