Flat-Living.co.uk The great estates
it remained largely untouched until the 1720s, when the Grosvenors developed the northern part - now known as Mayfair – around Grosvenor Square. In the 1820s, building on their success in Mayfair, the family began to develop the area known as Belgravia – building Eaton Square, Chester Square and other famous addresses. Later in the 19th century, Pimlico was similarly developed but Grosvenor’s property holdings in this part of London were sold in 1953. Despite much of the family’s present day portfolio now being
located in other parts of Britain and Ireland, it is the London estate with which Grosvenor is generally associated. Properties include a mix of residential, retail and office buildings and the best known of Grosvenor’s properties in Mayfair are located in and around Mount Street, Grosvenor Street, North Audley Street, Duke Street, and Park Street. In Belgravia, Grosvenor owns freehold properties in Eaton Square, Motcomb Street, Elizabeth Street, Pimlico Road, and Ebury Street.
THE CADOGAN ESTATE
The 8th Earl of Cadogan comes a close second to the Duke of Westminster in the London property stakes. Cadogan Estates Ltd is particularly associated with the area around Cadogan Square, Sloane Street and the King’s Road in Chelsea, where the company owns the freehold on a mix of residential, retail and commercial property.
It also owns property in London’s exclusive
Knightsbridge. The company’s origins date back to Sir Hans Sloane, the eighteenth
century scientist, who purchased what was then known as the manor of Chelsea in 1712. On his death, the Chelsea estate was split between his two daughters, one of whom was married to a member of
the Cadogan family. On the death of Sloane’s other daughter, her share of the estate was left to her son Hans Stanley who in turn bequeathed it to his sisters when he died. On their death, their half of the estate reverted to the Cadogans in 1821. The Cadogan estate includes some of London’s most sought after
retail locations and residential property in some of the capital’s most exclusive squares. In 2000 the company acquired the Duke of York’s Headquarters, a former barracks adjoining Sloane Square, which has been converted to retail, office and residential use, as well as providing a home for the Saatchi Gallery. The Chelsea estate comprises several hundred flats and houses and the company continues to develop its residential portfolio. New homes are being built at Cadogan Gardens and as part of the second phase of the Duke of York Square development off the King’s Road.
THE HOWARD DE WALDEN ESTATE
The Howard de Walden Estate owns, manages and leases around 92 acres of property in Marylebone. This covers the streets running east to west from Portland Place to Marylebone High Street and north to south from Marylebone Road to Wigmore Street. The Estate’s portfolio is largely made up of Georgian property, including Harley Street and a mix of residential and retail space particularly in and around Marylebone High Street. Much of the property now owned by the Howard de Walden family,
was designed in the eighteenth century by architect John Prince. He was commissioned by the Earl of Oxford who owned what was then part of the manor of Tyburn, to produce a masterplan for a housing development centred around Cavendish Square, with Oxford Street acting as the southern boundary. In 1719, he drew up the first plan for the Estate but progress was slow, as the financial implications of the South Sea Bubble of 1720 sent shockwaves through Britain’s wealthy land-owning families. When the Earl died in 1741, his daughter Margaret, who was married
to the second duke of Portland, inherited the estate. The Dukes of Portland continued the building programme, overseeing construction of the elegant properties that visitors to London are familiar with, in Portland Place, Wimpole Street and Harley Street. By the 1790s, the whole area from Oxford Street to what is now the Marylebone Road had been developed. Leading architects, the Adam brothers, were commissioned to design Chandos House in Queen Anne Street and houses in Mansfield Street and Portland Place, which was described as “the most magnificent street in London” by John Nash who designed Buckingham Palace and the Brighton Pavilion. The Portland Estate, as it was then known, remained in family ownership until1879 when Lucy Joan Bentinck, widow of the 6th Baron Howard de Walden inherited the land and the Howard de Walden Estate came into being, with the first family estate company established at the end of the First World War. In recent years, the Estate has completely regenerated the area
around Marylebone High Street. By the mid-1990s the area had fallen into decline with a third of the shops sitting vacant. By undertaking a major project to re-inject life into the area including providing schools
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