- Lancaster Gate
Lancaster Gate is a mid-19th century development in the
Bayswater district of west centralLondon , immediately to the north ofKensington Gardens . It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them opening onto a square containing a church. Further terraces back onto the pair overlooking the park and loop around the square. The terraces arestucco ed and are in an eclectic classical style featuringEnglish Baroque details and French touches. The church, known as Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, was an asymmetrical gothic composition with a needle spire. The architects were F. & H. Francis. Only the tower and spire survive, the rest of the building having been replaced by a housing scheme called Spire House in 1983.Lancaster Gate stands alongside
Hyde Park Gardens as one of the two grandest of the 19th-century housing schemes lining the northern side of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. The development was planned in 1856-57 and construction took at least 10 years. The terraces overlooking the park were designed bySancton Wood and those around the square by John Johnson. The exteriors are largely complete, with just a couple of 20th-century infills, but many of the interiors have been reconstructed behind the facades. Many of the properties are still in residential use and command very high prices. Others are used as embassies,office s, orhotel s. For many years, the headquarters ofThe Football Association were located in Lancaster Gate and the term was often used to refer to the organisation, but it has now relocated toSoho Square .The name Lancaster Gate also refers to a nearby gate of Kensington Gardens.
ee also
*
Lancaster Gate tube station
*Craven Hill Gardens
*Leinster Gardens References
*"The Buildings of England. London 3: North West", by Bridget Cherry and
Nikolaus Pevsner . ISBN 0-14-071048-5External links
* [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=526250&Y=180750&scale=5000&width=500&height=300&gride=&gridn=&lang=&db=pc&coordsys=gb Aerial photograph]
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