South Kensington Living
The Little Boltons
The Little Boltons runs between Old Brompton Road and Tregunter Road.
It consists of mainly large semi detached houses comprising three or four floors (plus basement). Some of the houses are painted in varying colours and some are entirely brick. Those on the west side have a raised ground floor and several houses have off street parking.
The road is tree lined and is considered one of the best addresses in Kensington.
There is a modern terrace on the north east stretch of the street.
This street was named Tregunter Grove or The Grove until 1939 and the new name presumably reflected the proximity of its grander namesake.
Work first started on the east side of the road which fell within the part of the estate owned by Robert Gunter II. In August 1856 Robert Gunter II agreed to lease a large area of building land to John Spicer, a builder from Pimlico who was to play a significant part in the development of the Gunter estate. The land allocated to Spicer included the east side of what was to be the Little Boltons, as well as the west crescent of the Boltons and the land south to Tregunter Road.
Spicer’s first houses were Nos. 2 and 4 in 1858. He constructed Nos. 6-20 in 1862, and Nos. 22-36 (even) in 1864.
Nos. 38-50 (even) were built in about 1961-2, to designs by Stone Toms and Partners, architects on the former site of Rathmere Lodge. (No. 50 is now called Rathmere Lodge.)
The west side of the road was in the ownership of Robert’s brother, James Gunter II. Nos. 1-35 were all taken by Corbett and McClymont and constructed in 1866-8.
