In 1836 John Inderwick, of Wardour Street in Soho, an importer of snuff boxes, bought six and a half acres of land in Kensington on which now stand Nos. 1-13 Canning Place, Victoria Grove, Albert Mews and the north part of Launceston Place. The layout on his little estate was probably created by an architect from St Martin’s Lane, named Joel Bray. His name appears on many of the plans.
Victoria Grove and Launceston Place were ancient paths from Kensington to Brompton and Canning Place is an ancient track from Gloucester Road to Victoria Road.
Drainage was a bit of a problem. The houses were built between 1837 and 1843, but the public sewer which was meant to be built down Gloucester Road didn’t materialise. So for 30 years all the houses sewerage flowed into an open cesspool at the corner of Gloucester Road and Kynance Place. They didn’t get a closed sewer until 1860s. Smell obviously wasn’t a factor for rich Victorians.
This article first appeared on the now defunct Kensington Living website. All rights and copyright to the original material is retained by that website which appeared at: http://www.kensingtonliving.co.uk