Brown Hart Gardens

Brown Hart Gardens, located in Duke Street, Mayfair, is a Convert|10000|sqft|m2|0 public garden. The gardens began life as the Duke Street Gardens where a communal garden was laid for what were then working class dwellings in Brown Street and Hart Street.

In 1902 the building of the Duke Street Electricity Substation led to the removal of the street level gardens. The substation was completed in 1905 to the design of C. Stanley Peach in a Baroque style from Portland stone featuring a pavilion and steps at either end, a balustrade and Diocletian windows along the sides to light the galleries of the engine rooms, and deep basements.

In order to compensate local residents for the loss of the old communal garden, the Duke of Westminster insisted that a paved Italian garden featuring trees in tubs be placed on top of the substation. The deck of the property was open to the public as an ornamental garden until the 1980s when it was closed by the then lessees, the London Electricity Board.

In 2007 plans were announced to revamp the site, [cite web
url= http://www.westminster.gov.uk/councilgovernmentanddemocracy/councils/pressoffice/news/pr-4054.cfm
title=£10m partnership to improve public spaces
last=
first=
accessdate = 2007-12-20
date = December 07, 2007
publisher = Westminster City Council] and the site was reopened to the public after 20 years of closure in October 2007. [ [http://www.opensquares.org/detail/index.html?../detail/BrownHart.html Brown Hart Gardens W1] , London Parks & Gardens Trust.]

References

* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42116 'Duke Street Area: Introduction', Survey of London: volume 40: The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings) (1980), pp. 86-87]