London Squares

1840

Quentery, Little, George Adam Burn

Height to Width Closure Ratio (approx): 1 to 1.5

Height to Length Closure Ratio (approx): 1 to 8

Width to Length Ratio: 1 to 5.5

Green: NA. Only freestanding trees in pavement remain

Width Face to Face: 91 ft (27.7 m)

Length Face to Face: 500 ft (152.4 m)

Story Height varies: 3, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, 6 – used 60 ft

Beaufort Gardens is a unique square amongst the Kensington and Belgravia squares since it now lacks even a green.  The gardens are gone, and the square still lacks a building range at the eastern end. What remains is one of the most auto-dominated squares in London. The tight width, however, tall trees and vestiges of the original architecture give it a pleasant feel of enclosure when one looks from one side to the other. Additionally, the repetitive and well wrought entries give a dramatic unity to the overall composition.

Beaufort Gardens (Google Earth image)

At Richard Lloyd’s death in 1859, his executor and trustee, William and Charles Quentery, teamed with Thomas Stimpson, a builder, to redevelop the estate. George Adam Burn, architect, helped lay out the narrow but deep site. The Red Lion on Brompton Road was rebuilt to Burn’s design, and an elongated square built behind.

Originally to be called Brompton Road, the name was changed by the Quenterys in 1863 to Beaufort Gardens. After an initial start by Burn, the remaining lots were sold in fee simple to Jeremiah Little, a successful builder in the area. Both sides of the non-terminated square were finished by 1870.

The Survey of London summed it up well: “The houses of Beaufort Gardens are of an orthodox high-class Kensington type, with four main storeys and a full attic above ground, light-brick walling, porticoes and plentiful Italianate ‘compo’ dressings. G. A. Burn’s five houses (Nos. 43–47) present a slightly simpler appearance than those of the Littles, but the general similarity makes it probable that he designed all the houses in Beaufort Gardens as well as the shops and the Red Lion along the Brompton Road.”¹

Beaufort Gardens is an example of developer over-reach where the desire to squeeze in three or four additional properties at the eastern end prevented either a proper termination to the square or connection to Walton Street. The latter may not have been an option since the freehold interests differed.

‘Brompton Road: South side’, Survey of London: volume 41: Brompton (1983), pp. 9-32. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=50006&strquery=Cadogan%20Square. Date accessed: 24 April 2007.