Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
High Street Kensington
The village of Kensington was centred on Kensington Church Street, but once
the area was transformed into a residential suburb in the nineteenth century, the
commercial centre shifted to
Kensington High Street
- better known as
High Street
Ken
, after the tube. The street is dominated architecturally by the twin presences
of George Gilbert Scott's neo-Gothic church of
St Mary Abbots
(whose 250ft spire
makes it London's tallest parish church) and the Art Deco colossus of
Barkers
department store, remodelled in the 1930s. The rest of the street is nothing special,
but in the quieter backstreets, you'll find one or two hidden gems like
Holland Park
,
the former gardens of an old Jacobean mansion, and
Leighton House
, the perfect
Victorian artist's pad.
Kensington Roof Gardens
99 Kensington High St •
T
020 7937 7994 for opening hours,
W
roofgardens.virgin.com •
!
High Street Kensington
A little-known feature of the High Street is Europe's largest
Roof Gardens
, which
tops the former Derry & Toms department store, another monster 1930s building,
next door to Barkers. Virgin, who now own the gardens, use them for events
including a summer cinema (
W
rooftopfilmclub.com), so phone ahead to check
they're open; to gain access, head for the side entrance on Derry Street and take the
lift. The nightclub at the centre of the garden is pretty tacky, but the mock-Spanish
convent, the formal gardens, the four pink flamingoes, sundry ducks and the views
across the rooftops are surreal.
19
Kensington Square
On the south side of the High Street lies
Kensington Square
, an early piece of
speculative building laid out in 1685. Luckily for the developers, royalty moved into
Kensington Palace shortly after its construction, and the square soon became so
fashionable that it was dubbed the “old court suburb”. By the nineteenth century,
the courtiers had moved out and the bohemians had moved in: Thackeray wrote
Vanity Fair
at no. 16; the Pre-Raphaelite painter Burne-Jones lived at no. 41; the
actress Mrs Patrick Campbell, for whom George Bernard Shaw wrote
Pygmalion
,
lived at no. 33; and composer Hubert Parry (of
Jerusalem
fame) gave music lessons
to Vaughan Williams at no. 17. John Stuart Mill, philosopher and champion of
women's suffrage, lived next door, and it was here that the first volume of Thomas
Carlyle's sole manuscript of
The French Revolution
was accidentally used by a maid
to light the fire.
Holland Park
Daily 7.30am to dusk • Free •
W
rbkc.gov.uk •
!
High Street Kensington
Hidden away in the backstreets north of High Street Kensington is the densely wooded
Holland Park
, popular with the neighbourhood's army of nannies and au pairs, who
take their charges to the excellent adventure playground. To get there, take one of the
paths along the east side of the former
Commonwealth Institute
- a bold 1960s
building with a startling tent-shaped Zambian copper roof - which will house the
Design Museum
(see p.235) from 2015. The park is laid out in the former grounds of
Holland House
- only the east wing of the Jacobean mansion could be salvaged after
World War II, but it gives an idea of what the place used to look like. A
youth hostel
is
linked to the east wing (see p.363); the garden ballroom houses the spectacular
Belvedere
restaurant; and throughout the summer
outdoor
performances
take place
(
W
operahollandpark.com), continuing a tradition which stretches back to the first Lady
Holland, who put on plays here in defiance of the puritanical laws of Cromwell's
Commonwealth. Several formal
gardens
are laid out before the house, drifting down in
terraces to the arcades, the orangery and the ice house, which have been converted into
a café and an art gallery. The most unusual of the formal gardens, which are peppered
