South Kensington Living
Wetherby Gardens
Wetherby Gardens runs west of Wetherby Place.
Most of the houses are five-storey brick buildings (plus basement). They have large portico entrances and large first floor balconies. They are built in a grand style.
There are mature trees in the street which on the south side has a private communal garden.
The western end of the street consists of large semi-detached houses consisting of four floors (plus basement). They have quite large front garden areas and also have a communal garden behind the buildings on the north side of the street. (The south side of the street at the western end is slightly confusing as it is called Gledhow Gardens).
When development began in Wetherby Gardens, the site was part owned by Robert Gunter II (on whose land Nos. 1-9 were built) and James Gunter II (on whose land Nos. 10-25 were built). Most of the development was carried out by John Spicer who was building big houses along the main east-west line of Bolton, Gledhow and Wetherby Gardens which was then called ‘Wetherby Road’.
Spicer’s first houses in what is now called Wetherby Gardens were Nos. 1-11, built in 1874-7. By the late 1870s large houses were becoming more difficult to sell. Spicer did not extend the row further, but he did build Nos. 20 and 21 near Ashburn Place in 1876-7.
The land between lay empty for many years. In 1883 another builder, William Willett, took the site and by 1884 he had built Nos. 12-19A to plans provided by H. B. Measures, a supervising architect. At the same time he built Nos. 23 and 24 (the pre-War home of Field Marshal Allenby) opposite No 21.
No. 25 was constructed in 1883-4 by a builder named Thomas Boyce. It is believed R W Edis was the architect. The first occupant was the sculptor, Edgar Boehm.
