Westminster
Moving south by the river we come to Westminster. Politics, the Church, the Civil Service and the media have long since carved this area up between them, and many companies have sought to place their head offices here, if only to bask in the supposed glamour that such a location brings. But every back street in Westminster is full of surprises and for those with broad wallets the place can prove a rich hunting ground for property.
Mansion blocks of every size and shape can be found in Westminster with a little scouting about; 5-bedroom monsters with high ceilings and porters are not uncommon. Vincent Square, huge and once the site for many a political intrigue, has seen a successful transformation with converted accommodation into flats, duplexes and penthouses.
A few modern purpose-built affairs can be found along with affordable apartment blocks built either side of the First World War. There is more of a Georgian flavour as we close in on Parliament; there are some delightful terraced houses of this date, many acting as offices but many still surviving as complete dwellings.
Security is not a problem here; plenty of guards, policemen and porters may have their eyes on property other than the residents' but everyone benefits from such a blanket covering of security of one sort or another.
Pimlico
Until recent times Pimlico, like such other inner-city areas as Lambeth, Southwark and Wapping, proved hardy in its resistance to gentrification. It is only in the last few decades that it has had to bow to the inevitable and watch its property prices rocket.
Its stuccoed properties were once split in slapdash style a la Earls Court into bedsits and studios. Change came to Pimlico in the Fifties when the Grosvenor Estate left to concentrate on its more exclusive environs and in 1972 when the Victoria Line appeared to give Pimlico its very own station.
Conversions have remained the order of the day in this southern quarter of SW1, although the quality is far above that of seedier times. "The Grid", as it is known, is a series of right-angled streets between Belgrave Road and Lupus Street, and largely features the original facdes of developer Thomas Cubitt.
Infills come in the shape of purpose built blocks, usually to cover war-damaged sites. A more recent version of these appears on Wilton Road, the old bus depot by the train station; interestingly the ratio of affordable units is greater here than the market properties: 81 to 71.
Other new properties have appeared at Bessborough Gardens, London's only post-war square. The other squares in Pimlico - Eccleston, St. George's and Warwick - are immensely popular, complete with residents' rights over the gardens, though many buildings here fulfil the roles of hotel and boarding house so prevalent in this part of the capital.
Far more purpose-built edifices have appeared by the riverfront, with astronomic prices to match. Close by are the vast public housing schemes of Dolphin Square and the Churchill Gardens Estate. Warwick Way and Tachbrook Street form the high street for Pimlico.
Belgravia
The western quarter of SW1 is Belgravia. The great wealth here, once jealously guarded by the Grosvenor Estate, has not been able to keep out leasehold reform and freeholds are popping up here and there all over Belgravia.
But it will be many years before Belgravia loses any of its exclusivity or, indeed, the memories of "Upstairs, Downstairs" on Eaton Square. The Estate still enforces a particular shade of cream on every facade and bans street drinking even outside a pub.
Properties vary in the scale of grandeur in Belgravia but they all share one thing in common: vast expense. Few shops are allowed into the area (and the few that are seem to be art galleries) and what passes for retailing thoroughfares here can be found on Elizabeth and Motcomb Streets.
Mews, cul de sacs and grand sweeping squares in a ceaseless run of stucco dominate Belgravia, with embassies and the Diplomatic Protection Police also appearing as regulars. Many of the facades appear to present complete houses to the world but instead conceal some truly vast apartment conversions.
The battle here, if only to keep the price down, is over leases. Some short tenures can be negotiated from the Estate, even as low as 15 years. It makes little difference to a price range available only to a few.
Knightsbridge
An important corner of Knightsbridge, mostly Sloane Square, the Cadogans, Lowndes Square and the area around Harrods, is part of SW1. Sloane Square is mainly commercial properties and flats, while nearby Cadogan Square is an up-market enclave of fine period properties overlooking attractive gardens.
The surrounding streets have smaller period properties and charming mews. The neighbourhood around Harrods has imposing blocks of flats, and squares and crescents with good period properties - red brick Dutch gable and stucco terraces.
The Lowndes Square area has grand blocks of flats and streets of terraced stucco houses. This is a busy area, with lots of high-class shops, restaurants and hotels. The nearest tubes are Sloane Square and Knightsbridge.
FacilitiesBusiness and pleasure co-exist very closely in SW1. It possesses some fine lungs in Green and St.James's Parks. 53 and 90 acres respectively, they have very different characters. St.James's is varied, full of strange wildfowl and bisected by a long, thin lake.
Some fine Whitehall horizons can be glimpsed from here; even the depressing 1913 facade of Buckingham Palace can look to good effect. Green Park is more uniform, full of verdure in the form of tall and impressive trees. The place is ablaze with daffodils each spring.
The parks are a particular godsend give the resident-only nature of most of SW1's squares. Those that are open tend to be traffic nightmares, such as Trafalgar and Parliament Squares, although open space from the Thames helps in providing two of SW1's four sides. A popular park is Victoria Tower Gardens, taking up the space between Parliament and Lambeth Bridge, and now overlooked by MI5 in their refitted Thames House home.
It is close to the river that we find so many of the tourist meccas of this part of London. The National Gallery, one of the world's great artistic collections, is in Trafalgar Square and is vastly popular. Its southern neighbour, the Tate, is on Millbank. It has ceded most of its collection to the vast Bankside power station gallery in Southwark, and the old Tate's remit now is to house British art from 1500 to the present day.
Whitehall brings its own glamour to the party. Inigo Jones's sumptuous Banqueting House, built for Charles I only to end up hosting his execution, is on Whitehall itself. Westminster Abbey is a tremendous draw, recently forced to charge admission fees by the damage caused by thousands of visiting feet. Now dominated by Nicholas Hawksmoor's colossal twin western towers, it overshadows the next-door St. Margaret's Church, the parish building for Westminster's MPs.
A delighful companion piece for the abbey is found down Victoria Street to the west. This is the 1903 Catholic Westminster Cathedral, a breathtaking piece of Byzantine architecture and, unlike the abbey, prepared to let the hordes travel up the tower for some fine views. The Cabinet War Rooms, deep underground for protection from bombing, are on Horse Guards Parade and is another popular attraction.
Parliament itself is a little harder to visit. The archaic system of writing to your MP ("or a peer whom you know") is still in place, although the summer recess - August and September - sees the doors open wider and tickets can be bought.
The only alternative to these is a long wait in the queue to attend the Strangers' Gallery in the House of Lords when the Peers are sitting, or Fridays only for the Strangers' Gallery in the Commons. Westminster Hall and the Jewel Tower, the sole parts of the palace to escape the great fire of 1834, are often open during their own times and these are particularly worth a visit.
SW1 is, of course, the place for royalty. Buckingham Palace, a minor royal outpost until George IV took a shine to it, is open to the public in summer, but it's a poor architectural mishmash. Across the road is the real deal, St. James's Palace, the real heart of royal business in Britain but closed to the plebs. Other royal edifices here include Lancaster and Marlborough Houses.
Close to these royal piles are the Guards Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art (the ICA). The latter, moved to the Mall in 1968, has a wide brief in presenting modern drama, film, literature and photography. By the Guards Museum - to the south of Buckingham Palace - is the Queen's Gallery, repository of the Royal Collection, although only a fragment is ever on show at any one time.
Old ceremonies bringing in the tourists here are thrice-yearly Beating the Retreat, the occasional Trooping of the Colour and the almost daily Changing of the Guard. These are popular photographic extravaganzas and require some early attendance for a good view.
SW1 is, of course, great clubbing territory. Not for those with a penchant for banging techno but for that very English institution the gentleman's club. White's, the Reform, Brook's, the Carlton and many more still linger from a bygone age and the seriously expensive Jermyn Street and its environs are their shopping malls, filled with bespoke tailors, cigar shops, gun merchants, fragrance purveyors, cheese vendors and hatters (and Fortnum & Mason). Set by the southern edge of Piccadilly, a certain breed of new world tourist loves the place.
Moving to the west of SW1 the world seems to revolve around Victoria station. Eateries and pubs of every possible standard can be found here, with Pimlico especially rich in restaurants and inns. The daily market at Artillery Place is always well patronised.
There are two theatres close by the station (and next to "Little Ben") - the Apollo Victoria and the Victoria Palace - while more testing dramatic fare can be found at the Royal Court in Sloane Square, also the home of peerless department store Peter Jones. At the other end of SW1 the blockbusting theatres of Theatre Royal and Her Majesty's can be visited on the Haymarket.
Further west still is the rarefied air of Belgravia, home to embassies and the ridiculously rich; it can feel a crime just to walk the streets here, but the place feels dead, with no pedestrians but plenty of vehicles. As we move to the north-western edge of SW1 we close in on the Knightsbridge nirvanas of Harrods and Harvey Nichols.
TransportTo the south of the former is Victoria Coach Station, connecting to all points of the British Isles and fiercely busy, day and night. Between the two Victoria stations, the bus depot in front of the railway and the taxis inbetween is an unending stream of souls desperate to hurry their journey any which way they can.
Tubes are a common resource here, with Victoria and Pimlico appearing on the Victoria Line. The former also appears on the Circle and District Lines, alongside St. James's Park and Westminster stations. Westminster also has the new Jubilee extension on its way to the Isle of Dogs.
On the northern border of SW1 the Piccadilly Line turns up at Hyde Park Corner, Green Park and Piccadilly Circus stations, with the latter also hosting the Bakerloo.
Four road bridges connect this part of northern London with its southern counterparts in Lambeth, Vauxhall and Battersea - Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Vauxhall Bridge and Chelsea Bridge.
Steve Roberts
HistoryIn moving the site of his palace from the City to Thorney Island he initiated the split between commercial power and royal power. The palace church would grow to be Westminster Abbey and was finished just eight days before Edward's death. It did not get off to a good start; when William the Conqueror was crowned there a year later the acclaims of the Saxon crowd outside was taken to be an uprising and citizens in the streets were promptly massacred.
Edward had not chosen his site well. As time progressed the surrounding marsh land continued to bring regular waves of plague to the inhabitants. The aristocrats who flocked to the palace were a ready target for pickpockets and muggers and the absence of the court each summer brought hardship to the more honest trades which relied on the palace. The old custom of sanctuary brought even more undesirables to the ecclesiastical precincts in the royal complex; sleaze came early to Westminster.
London became the "twin cities linked by one good road" - the City and Westminster, with the Thames running between. Not until the 17th century would surrounding areas begin to blossom, and this was true as well of SW1. Pimlico - the origin of its name is lost - made its entrance into London history in 1626, and it established a reputation for supplying the beau monde of Chelsea and Westminster with market garden produce, beer and pubs - Jenny's Whim was quite the tavern to see and be seen in the 18th century.
To the west, Belgravia - then known as Five Fields - was having a very sinister entrance into history. A pleasant enough environment in the day, its reputation at night was one of cut-throats and footpads and no-one in their right mind crossed this land in the dark until well into Georgian times.
SW1's two great parks, Green and St. James's, came into being in the Stuart era. Green Park, so named for its (still) commanding trees, became popular with duellists. Here in 1760 Count Alfieri duelled with his mistress's husband, Lord Ligonier, and despite a sword wound to the arm headed off the the theatre in Haymarket where he told a friend: "my view is that Ligonier did not kill me because he did not want to; and I did not kill him because I did not know how".
The Haymarket itself, an important site for the sale of straw and hay to the mews of the wealthy inhabitants of central London, would overcome many attempts to close it down and stay a busy and fractious market until 1830.
St. James's Park became more stylised, a favourite both of monarchs and Oliver Cromwell and full of exotic flora and fauna. In the 18th century its reputation dipped somewhat, becoming a haunt for a notorious gang known as the Mohocks and the place of business for thousands of prostitutes. The park was locked each evening but with 6,500 people authorized to possess keys the railings seemed a pointless trifle.
Slowly SW1 clawed its way to respectability. St. James's, the area to the north of the two parks, fell first to decent housing when Christopher Wren's friend Henry Jermyn obtained permission from the King to develop what was then called St. James's Fields. In time St. James's Square would become the most presigious address in all London and have enough sway to force the new Regent Street of 1815 to turn away to curve into Piccadilly Circus.
Belgravia gradually fell under bricks and mortar, a few piecemeal developments proceeding slowly in the 18th century. Things speeded up in the 1820s when Lord Grosvenor and builder Thomas Cubitt began a full-scale development which had the entire district built over within thirty years. Its name comes from a village in Leicestershire and it succeeded in attracting a wealthy clientele, much to the developers' designs. It has not lost them.
Cubbitt and Grosvenor were also responsible for Pimlico, although the intention from the off was to build in a less grand manner here. To this day Pimlico remains the raffish underbelly of SW1, a noisy and welcome relief to the staid nature of Belgravia, St. James's and Westminster. Its social stratum was observed early on by Anthony Trollope in 1864, in the peregrinations of the newly-married Earl of Chester and Lady Alexandrina:
"If indeed they could have achieved Eaton Square, or a street leading out of Eaton Square - if they could have crept on to the hem of the skirt of Belgravia - the bride would have been delighted. And at first she was very nearly taken in with the idea that such a proposal was made to her.
"Her geographical knowledge of Pimlico had not been perfect, and she had very nearly fallen into a fatal error. But a friend had kindly intervened. "For heaven's sake, my dear, don't let him take you anywhere beyond Eccleston Square!""
Steve Roberts.
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