Grosvenor Gardens

Grosvenor Gardens is the name given to two triangular parks in Belgravia, London, faced on their western and eastern sides by streets of the same name. Both roads run roughly north to south from Hobart Place and Grosvenor Place to Buckingham Palace Road, and is entirely the A3215.

A3215
Grosvenor Gardens south
Route information
Length	0.1 mi (160 m)
Major junctions
East end	A3214 Buckingham Palace Road
Major intersections	A1169 A1019 A414 M11
East end	A302 Grosvenor Gardens
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Victoria
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
← A3214 → A3216

Grosvenor Gardens House

The Rifle Brigade Memorial, Grosvenor Gardens

Notable buildings include the Grade II-listed Grosvenor Gardens House at Nos. 23–47, built in about 1868 by the architect Thomas Cundy III in the French Renaissance style.^[1]

The Rifle Brigade War Memorial commemorates the service of the Rifle Brigade in the First and Second World Wars. It stands at the junction of Grosvenor Gardens and Hobart Place, on land donated by the 2nd Duke of Westminster.

The shell-covered huts in the southern garden were part of a redesign of the park by Jean Moreux, architect-in-chief of the National Monuments and Palaces of France, in 1952. The fabrique style buildings are covered with shells from England and France, and are used to store gardening equipment.^[2][3]

The northern garden contains the sculpture Lioness and Lesser Kudu by Jonathan Kenworthy, installed in 2000.^[4]

Notable residents

• William Henry Blackmore (1827–1878), killed himself in his study at Belgrave Mansions, Grosvenor Gardens^[5]
• Henry Eliot, 5th Earl of St Germans (1835–1911), lived at No. 13
• John Eliot, 6th Earl of St Germans (1890–1922), born and lived at No. 13
• Thomas Forbes (1900–1988), grew up at No. 15
• Count Hayashi Tadasu (1850–1913), First Ambassador of Japan to Great Britain. Lived at No. 4.^[6][7]
• Agnes Keyser opened a hospital during the First World War at No. 9, a close friend of King Edward VII, set up to nurse British officers, including the novelist Stuart Cloete. The hospital became King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers.
• Augustus Pitt Rivers (1827–1900), lived at No. 4, commemorated with a blue plaque^[8]
• F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead (1872–1930), lived at No. 32, commemorated with a blue plaque^[9]

References

1. Historic England, "23–47 Grosvenor Gardens (1288701)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 19 March 2017
2. "13 Of London's Oddest Buildings". Londonist. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
3. thelondonphile (18 April 2012). "Shell huts, Grosvenor Gardens". Retrieved 4 May 2019.
4. Ward-Jackson, Philip (2003), Public Sculpture of the City of London, Public Sculpture of Britain, vol. 7, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 53–54, ISBN 0-85323-977-0
5. "Pitt-Rivers and Blackmore". Web.prm.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
6. "Viscount Hayashi at the Japanese Legation in London" Lady's Realm (March 1904): 655-661.
7. Robert Machray, "London's Legations from the Far East" The Royal Magazine (1901): 144.
8. "Biography of General Pitt-Rivers". Web.prm.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
9. "SMITH, F.E., 1st Earl of Birkenhead (1872–1930)". English Heritage. Retrieved 19 March 2017.

• Media related to Grosvenor Gardens at Wikimedia Commons

51.4972°N 0.1463°W / 51.4972; -0.1463