We've found 161 parks

The Crescent Garden is a communal garden behind Randolph Crescent, Warrington Crescent and Randolph Avenue. Developed in the mid C19th, much of the housing had communal gardens for the use of the occupiers. Here the surrounding houses are mainly stuccoed buildings of c.1865, although some were destroyed by WWI bombing, enemy aircraft apparently mistaking the canals in the area for the Thames. Until c.1980 this area was within the Paddington Estate of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, administered by Trustees, whose plans to convert the garden into a communal car park were defeated by local residents. The Crescent Garden has lawns, fine trees, island beds including a Princess Diana Memorial bed, pergola, obelisk and children's play area. There are many mature trees, chiefly London plane.

The Goring hotel has been run by the Goring family since opening on 2 March 1910. It was founded by Otto Richard Goring, who purchased the land from the Duke of Westminster and demolished a public house called The Sun and small houses that had covered the site since at least the 1870s. The new hotel was designed by Giles, Gough & Trollope and was the first hotel where each of its bedrooms had an en-suite bathroom. It was extended north on Beeston Place in 1925-6. The private garden at the rear of the hotel was acquired from the Duke of Westminster in 2005 and has well-kept lawns, shrub borders and mature trees and a number of sculptures. In WWI the hotel was used as the command centre by the Chief of Allied Forces and in WWII the hotel accommodated 150 Polish officers. The hotel has long had connections with royalty, with many famous guests staying here.

The House of Charity, later called the House of St Barnabas-in-Soho, was established in 1846 as one of the first hostels in London. From 1862 it occupied No 1 Greek Street, a fine C18th house, and provided temporary accommodation for homeless people. Its private chapel was built in 1862-5. The work of the charity has continued to this day, although the house is no longer residential. The small courtyard garden, enclosed on two sides by the house and chapel, has paved areas, some flower beds and a number of mature trees, including a mulberry under which Charles Dickens may have sat in 1859 to plan 'A Tale of Two Cities', nearby Manette Street recalling his character, Dr Manette.

Abingdon Street Gardens, also known as College Green, was laid out in the 1960s when C18th houses along Abingdon Street were demolished after WWII. The land was once part of the Old Palace Yard of the Palace of Westminster. A strip of lawn bisected by a path, the Green contains Henry Moore's sculpture 'Knife Edge Two Piece' (1967). To the north is the C14th Jewel Tower with a fragment of moat and medieval quay, beyond which is another remnant of Old Palace Yard, laid out as a simple lawn with 2 mature plane trees and a memorial Portland stone statue of George V by Sir William Reid Dick, set on an imposing base designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1947). This area of garden abuts the rear of Westminster Abbey's octagonal C13th Chapter House. It is overlooked from the south by two fine C18th stone-fronted houses in Palace Yard.

The importance of the Palace of Westminster as royal residence and seat of government dates back to medieval times. The oldest building today is the C11th Westminster Hall and the adjacent New Palace Yard has existed since that time, now laid out as a garden in commemoration of The Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. The Palace of Westminster and Houses of Parliament that exist today date in the main from the mid C19th rebuilding, when Black Rod's Garden was also created. Reserved for private parliamentary use this garden adjoins Victoria Tower Gardens from which it is separated by railings and hedges. The Parliamentary estate also includes Speaker's Green by Westminster Bridge and Cromwell Green between Old Palace Yard and New Palace Yard, which both originated as medieval courtyards.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

The Water Gardens Estate was built in 1961-66, designed by Trehearne, Norman, Preston & Partners for the Church Commissioners and includes three 17-storey towers, smaller blocks, and a terrace of houses with private gardens, backing onto the communal landscaped gardens. The gardens were designed by Philip Hicks in Modernist style with split levels, rectangular forms and strong horizontals to counteract the surrounding verticals, its rocks, willows and falling water providing an almost oriental atmosphere. The design brief for the gardens was to mask service roads and basement garages, and to provide interest for the residents from ground level and also from above.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Trafalgar Square was laid out in the 1820s onwards as part of John Nash's redevelopment of the West End. It stands on the former site of the King's Mews and was designed to enhance the setting of the new National Gallery and to connect the Strand with the West End. Dominated by Nelson's Column, it became a focal point for the commemoration of imperial heroes and as the favoured rallying place for momentous social and political events.

Trevor Square is a small secluded square surrounding an oblong private garden that was built as part of a planned residential development in the early C19th, named after the Trevor family, who continued to own the land until the early C20th. In c.1704 Sir John Trevor had leased a late C17th mansion here, later called Powis House after a later tenant, purchasing the freehold in c.1715 when he acquired additional adjacent land. The garden is surrounded by a high hedge and chain link fence and is laid out with an oblong lawn with crescent beds at either end. A number of the early C19th buildings remain and 10 C19th cast-iron lamp standards surround the garden.

The Triangle Garden is a communal gardens in the triangle formed by Randolph Crescent, Clifton Gardens and Randolph Avenue. Until c.1980 much of this area was within the Paddington Estate of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, administered by Trustees. Developed in the mid C19th, much of the housing here had communal gardens provided for the use of occupiers of the surrounding houses. The white stucco houses date from the 1860s and the peaceful garden has formal and informal beds and a central island with London plane trees that are over 100 years old.

Upper and Lower Grosvenor Gardens are two small triangular gardens laid out to complement Thomas Cundy's French Renaissance style houses, the design for which was exhibited at the RA in 1864. The Upper Garden is simpler but retains 3 pairs of mid-C19th gate piers and rich wrought gates with the Grosvenor monogram. Upper Grosvenor Garden was re-landscaped and opened to the public for the first time in 2000. It has a central lawn, perimeter path and a few mature planes, with a bronze sculpture of a lioness hunting an antelope in the centre of a bed within the lawn. The Rifle Brigade Monument (1924/5) by John Tweed is on the north-eastern corner.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Victoria Embankment Gardens comprise a series of public gardens created from 1864 following the embankment of the Thames by MBW's Chief Engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, although Sir Christopher Wren had conceived of a continuous embankment in 1666. The four landscaped sections are all bounded on the river side by Victoria Embankment, and in each are formal gardens, statues and monuments. Temple Gardens is the most northerly section. The Main Garden, created on the site of Adelphi Gardens, was the second to be laid out and opened in May 1875. Whitehall Garden followed, laid out in 1875. The Ministry of Defence section was laid out in the 1950s when the Ministry of Defence was built between 1939-59; in the north-west corner are remains of the old Whitehall Steps to the Thames, 'Queen Mary Steps', discovered in 1939. In addition, Temple Place, the balustraded roof terrace above The Temple Station (1870), has long provided additional public open space, and since 2021 has been the site for a contemporary sculpture project entitled The Artist's Garden.

Victoria Square is a modest town square of stuccoed terraces completed in 1839, part of the C19th development of the Grosvenor Estate land in Belgravia. The centre was originally an unpaved open space, later paved, and raised in the 1950s. It was landscaped in 2003-5 and has a formal, symmetrical layout, with paving, raised beds and seating, and at each end a Catalpa tree. The square is surrounded by traditional railings and lamp posts. A bronze statue of the young Queen Victoria by artist Catherine Laugel was installed in 2007, depicted at the age she would have been when the square was first laid out.