Lowndes Square is a residential

garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. ...

at the north-west end of

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous pla ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, SW1. It is formed of archetypal grand terraces of light stucco houses, cream or white. The length of the central rectangular garden is parallel with

Sloane Street Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along. History Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...

to the west; visible from the north-west corner is a corner of the

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols Group Limited ( trading as Harvey Nichols) is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831 by Benjamin Harvey; it is headquartered at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections ...

store, beyond which is

Knightsbridge tube station Knightsbridge () is a London Underground station, located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is on the Piccadilly line between South Kensington tube station, South Kensington and Hyde Park Corner tube station, Hyde Park Corner s ...

. Ecclesiastically (that is, in the Anglican Church), it remains in a northern projection of one of the parishes of Chelsea, except its east side, which is in the very small parish of St Paul,

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

, a division which is mirrored secularly by the boundaries of two London Boroughs (Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea).

Ownership and building design

The square has the highest percentage of highly anonymous (shell company) ownership in the UK, accounting for 40% of the houses. Its houses are valued in excess of £10 million and so are mainly internally converted into apartments, some of which are multi-level. Locally

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

status for most of the buildings means the façades and exterior structure above ground must remain little changed. Nos. 11 and 12 have higher, main statutory-level protection. As with

Belgrave Square Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for ...

, George Basevi designed most of the houses. Lowndes Court, a classical apartment block, takes up the south side bar No. 34 (former Nos. 28–33); the north side (former No. 50 and possibly higher) is the Park Tower (Hotel), which fronts Knightsbridge, an arterial road on the other side. The Pakistan High Commission takes up an interior conversion of Nos. 35–36.

Context and central garden

On the other side of Sloane Street are Wilton Crescent and

, notable garden squares of London which are also designed by Basevi. The private communal garden is and contains

plane trees ''Platanus'' ( ) is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. The type ...

and shrubs.

In film, fiction and the media

This was a setting in the Edward Frederic Benson novel '' The Countess of Lowndes Square''. In

Alan Hollinghurst Sir Alan James Hollinghurst (born 26 May 1954) is an English novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. He won the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award and the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In 2004, he won the Booker Prize for his novel ...

's novel '' The Line of Beauty'', the Ouradi family live on the square.

Nicolas Roeg Nicolas Jack Roeg ( ; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance (film), Performance'' (1970), ''Walkabout (film), Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973) ...

and

Donald Cammell Donald Seton Cammell (17 January 1934 – 24 April 1996) was a Scottish painter, screenwriter, and film director. He has a cult reputation largely due to his debut film ''Performance'', which he wrote the screenplay for and co-directed wi ...

's 1970 film ''

Performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

'', starring

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

and James Fox, used interiors of Leonard Plugge's Lowndes Square house.

Notable residents

* Jomo Kenyatta (1892–1978), first president of Kenya * William Lowndes (1652–1724), politician *

Lord Alan Spencer-Churchill Lord Alan Spencer-Churchill Deputy lieutenant, DL (25 July 1825 – 19 April 1873) was a British aristocrat, officer in the British Army, deputy lieutenant of Oxfordshire, a lieutenant in the Oxfordshire Yeomanry and a businessman. He was a g ...

(1825–1873), businessman and great-uncle of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

* Lord Haliburton (1832–1907), civil servant, at No. 57. * Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (1855–1944), landowner and maternal grandfather of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

* Geoffrey Lubbock (1873–1932), High Sheriff of the County of London * H.D. (1886–1961), American poet * Leonard Plugge (1889–1981), radio entrepreneur and Conservative MP for Chatham (1935–1945) * Margaret Lowenfeld (1890–1973), child psychologist *

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

(1896–1980), fascist party leader *

Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury Eric Reginald Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury (29 September 1928 – 14 February 2016), was an English politician and human rights campaigner. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Orpington from 1962 to 1970. He then served in the House ...

(1928–2016), Liberal politician * Garland Anderson (1933–2001), American composer *

Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (born 24 October 1966) is a business oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the primary owner of the private investment com ...

(born 1966), Russian tycoon * Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, Parliamentarian (first Liberal and then Conservative), and Violet Mond, Baroness Melchett, humanitarian, activist, and social hostess

References

{{LB Kensington and Chelsea Belgravia Garden squares in London Knightsbridge Squares in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Squares in the City of Westminster Communal gardens