Kensington Square

Kensington Square is a garden square in Kensington, London, W8. It was built from 1692 on land acquired for the purpose in 1685 and is the oldest such square in Kensington. The houses facing, Nos. 1–45, are listed Grade II for their architectural/historic merit.^[2]

Kensington Square

Looking west across Kensington Square from the southeastern corner
Length	0.2 mi (0.32 km)^[1]
Postal code	W8
Coordinates	51°30′02″N 0°11′24″W / 51.5006°N 0.1900°W / 51.5006; -0.1900
Construction
Inauguration	1685 (1685)

History

In 1685, Thomas Young, a woodcarver, acquired land in Kensington which he sought to develop, and as he later described it in 1701, "did sett out and appoint a considerable part thereof to be built into a large Square of large and substantial Houses fit for the Habitacion of persons of good Worth and Quality, with Courts and Yards before and Gardens lying backwards".^[3]

In London, St. James's Square, Soho Square and Golden Square are a few years older, but in contrast with these Kensington Square still retains its residential character.

Garden

The communal gardens were laid out in 1698 and are 0.36 hectares (0.89 acres) in size. The garden is private and not open to the public, though it has taken part in the annual Open Garden Squares Weekend.^[2]

Heythrop College

No. 23 was Heythrop College, University of London until 2018, "the Specialist Philosophy and Theology College of the University of London," which included a library originally established in 1614 in Louvain (Leuven) by the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) for those studies.^[4][5]

Former residents

Blue plaque holders

The square includes the former homes of:

• composer Hubert Parry at No. 17
• liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill at No. 18
• sanitary reformer and pathologist John Simon at No. 40;
• Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones at No. 41 —

Other homes belonged to, or were rented as their family home by:

• Lawyer and positivist Vernon Lushington at No. 36. He introduced one of the foremost Pre-Raphaelites to another: E. Burne Jones (Burne-Jones) to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, at the Working Men's College. The Lushingtons and Parrys frequently visited each other.
• Scholar and philanthropist Richard Buckley Litchfield (1832–1903) at No. 31 with his wife
• Henrietta Litchfield (1843–1927), who was Charles Darwin's daughter.
• Their niece, artist Gwen Raverat, describes visits there in her memoir Period Piece.^[6]

Between 1831 and 1896 (the) Kensington School occupied two sites: No. 31, then No.s 25–29. It is notable as one of the founders of the Football Association in 1863. The school built classrooms and fives courts in the gardens of the houses; all that remains is No. 27a, the cottage or small house behind No. 28.

In popular culture

In the 2016 film The Exception, protagonist Mieke de Jong coyly inscribes a copy of landmark philosophical work Beyond Good and Evil with:

For my ignorant friend. 15 Kensington square, London W.

See also

• Squares in London
• List of city squares

References

1. "Driving directions to Kensington Square". Google. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
2. "Kensington Square". London Gardens Trust. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
3. "Kensington Square and environs: Introduction". British History Online (BHO). Retrieved 18 February 2016.
4. Heythrop College: About us
5. Heythrop College: How to find us 2010-02-23 at the Wayback Machine
6. Raverat, Gwen (2013). Period Piece. London: Slightly Foxed. pp. 139–154. ISBN 978-1-906562-58-8. First published by Faber & Faber, 1952

External links

 

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