Queen's Gate street in London, spring 2013 (3)

Queen's Gate is a street in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with t ...

, London, England. It runs south from

Kensington Gardens Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde ...

' Queen's Gate (the edge of which gardens are here followed by

Kensington Road Kensington Road is a section of road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the A315 road. It runs along the south edge of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. To the west it becomes ...

) to Old Brompton Road, intersecting

Cromwell Road Cromwell Road is a major London road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, designated as part of the A4. It was created in the 19th century and is said to be named after Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwell, who once owned a hous ...

. The street is mostly in the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London, Inner London boroughs, London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the second smallest Districts of ...

, but part of the east side is in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a city and borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of central Greater London, including most of the West En ...

. The municipal boundary is the street centre between Kensington Road and Imperial College Road.

History

The street was built on land purchased by the Royal Commissioners for

the Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

under an agreement dated August 1855 with Henry Browne Alexander, whose family owned the land through which the road was to pass, and William Jackson, a building speculator. The road was originally known as Albert's Road, but was officially changed to Queen's Gate in 1859.

Local Politics

Queen's Gate is also a three-councillor ward of

with a population of 9,847 (2011 Census). The local Member of Parliament since 2019 has been Felicity Buchan.

Places of interest

At the northern end of the road, near the actual gate to

, is an

equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning ' knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is ...

of Field Marshal

Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala Field Marshal Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala (6 December 1810 – 14 January 1890) was a British Indian Army officer. He fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War and the Second Anglo-Sikh War before seeing action as chief ...

, erected in 1920. From north to south, places of interest visible on the east side of Queen's Gate include the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

, the Huxley Building of

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a ...

, the Dana Library and Research Centre and the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

. Kensington Park School is just south of the Queen's Gate Gardens, opposite the museum. The road also lends its name to an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

girls' school, Queen's Gate School, which is situated on the road. On the west side is Baden-Powell House. The 100 Queen's Gate Hotel London, a historical building dating back to 1870, is also situated there. St Augustine of Canterbury parish church

St Augustine of Canterbury parish church

The only church is St Augustine's of Canterbury (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

). Five countries have embassies or high commissions in Queen's Gate: the Embassy of Iraq is at no. 21, the Bangladeshi High Commission at No. 28, the Royal Embassy of Thailand is at Nos. 29–30, the Embassy of Oman is at No. 167, and the Bulgarian Embassy is at Nos. 186–188. The Security Service (MI5) was based at 73-75 Queen's Gate from 1919 to 1929. The nearest tube stations are

and Gloucester Road.

Notable people

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

, comedian and actor (d. 1992) *

Dennis Gabor Dennis Gabor ( ; hu, Gábor Dénes, ; 5 June 1900 – 9 February 1979) was a Hungarian-British electrical engineer and physicist, most notable for inventing holography, for which he later received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics. He obtained ...

, physicist, 1971

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

(d. 1979) *

Gerald Hocken Knight Gerald Hocken Knight (1908–1979) was a cathedral organist, who served at Canterbury Cathedral. Background Gerald Hocken Knight was born on 27 July 1908 in Par, Cornwall, the only son of Alwyne Knight of Par by his first wife Edith Harvey ...

, compositor; organist of St Augustine's church, 1931-37 (d. 1979) * Gilbert Ledward, sculptor (d. 1960) * E. Beresford Chancellor, author known for his works on the history of London, died at no. 31 (d. 1937) *Sir Richard Baggallay, barrister, MP then Lord Justice of Appeal, of no. 55 (d. 1888)

References

External links

Bangladeshi High Commission website

Royal Thai Embassy website

Omani Embassy website

Bulgarian Embassy website
{{Coord, 51.49834, N, 0.17961, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms 1859 establishments in England Streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Streets in the City of Westminster South Kensington Imperial College London