South Kensington Living
Harley Gardens
Harley Gardens is a small street running south from Priory Walk.
The houses are mainly four floors (plus basement). They have small front gardens. They are brick. They have raised ground floors.
The other side of the street has the rear entrances to the houses in Gilston Road.
The houses at the south end are in a terrace and those at the north end are semi detached.
Most of Harley Gardens was called Harley Road until 1874.
Nos. 1 and 2 Harley Road were built by William Harding and Nos. 3 and 4 by James Bonnin Junior in 1851. But Robert Gunter I granted leases to their nominees not to the builders direct, so presumably the nominees were financing the builders.
Nos. 3 and 4 Harley Gardens have a distinctive form of curved hood over segmental-headed window openings, also used by Thomas Holmes in Gilston Road and Robert Trower in Priory Walk
The rest of Harley Gardens was occupied by the extensive garden of 98 Draycott Gardens, but this was acquired by Robert Gunter II in about 1862. He leased the sites for Nos. 9-14 to Benjamin and Thomas Bradley in 1862-3, and Nos. 5-8 Harley Road to Thomas Hussey and Thomas Huggett for in 1867.
Arthur Orton, the ‘Tichborne Claimant’, lived at No. 14 in 1870-2 under the name of Sir Roger Tichborne, baronet.
