We've found 161 parks

Shortly after the pleasure gardens were laid out in Soho Square in 1680/1, the developers of Golden Square established their own garden here, probably completed by 1688. An ornamental garden with perimeter wooden palisade, its layout and planting were identical to Leicester Fields. In 1750s this was replaced with a new octagonal design, iron railings and a statue of King James at its centre. In the 1820s, following neglect, the garden was restored, at which time it presumably reverted to its earlier square shape, and paths, trees and shrubs were laid out. In 1952 the garden was somewhat controversially re-designed to its current configuration of a large raised stone terrace and three geometrical beds.

Great Cumberland Place was built as part of the Portman Estate development, which took place between the 1760s and 1820. On an axis with Marble Arch, the southern part of Great Cumberland Place was planned as a circus or double crescent, but only the eastern crescent was completed, built in 1789. The crescent of houses, including the Western Marble Arch Synagogue at No.32, are now set back from the road behind a landscaped open space, which was laid out as a memorial to the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, with a statue unveiled in 1998.

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

Green Park was enclosed as a deer park by Charles II after the Restoration, prior to which it was open land. Initially called Upper St James's Park, it was called Green Park by the mid C18th. In c.1730 a private walk was laid out for Queen Caroline, who had a summer pavilion built, and a canal or reservoir was enlarged, known as the Queen's Basin, later filled in. It was used for military parades and celebrations in the C18th, but was reduced in size when Buckingham House gardens were enlarged, and also lost land to the east. It opened to the public in 1826. The park today has undulating areas of grass crossed by paths, with avenues and scattered trees. Mature trees are principally planes, with some lime, chestnut and hawthorn. The lack of formal flower beds is reputedly due to Charles II's wife, Catherine of Braganza, who ordered all flowers to be removed having discovered the king had given flowers picked here to another woman. However, the park is known for its annual daffodil display.

Green Street Garden was planned and laid out between 1913-6 for the Grosvenor Estate, one of three new gardens created on the estate's land in Mayfair that had previously been occupied by stables and other ancillary buildings. It was part of the 10-year programme drawn up by Estate Surveyor Edmund Wimperis when he was appointed in 1910 and was the first garden to be completed, in its final stages of planning when WWI broke out. Surrounded by tall red-brick apartment blocks, mainly designed by Wimperis and Simpson architects, the garden, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, was formally laid out with lawns, paved areas and a wide perimeter path in crazy paving, ornamental features and fountains.

The Grosvenor Estate's garden is in the area bounded by Rogers House and Tothill House. It is part of Sir Edwin Lutyens' famous 'chequerboard' Page Street Estate built from 1929-35 in conjunction with the WCC to replace housing due for clearance after the Thames flooded in 1928. Many of the Houses are listed, and together with a number of small related buildings such as lodges and dustbin shelters, provide the setting for the garden. It appears to have been laid out in the 1970s after part of the two largest blocks were demolished, and is roughly square, comprising a series of brick planters stepping down to a secluded central area that is provided with seating and a children's playground.

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

Grosvenor Square within the extensive Grosvenor Estate of the Dukes of Westminster is the largest of the Mayfair squares. Built by Sir Richard Grosvenor, the square's garden was first laid out in the early C18th, later re-landscaped in the early C19th. It was originally provided as a private garden for residents of the surrounding houses, but opened to the public from 1948, when it was redesigned and a statue to President Roosevelt was erected within a formal garden area. On the east side is a Memorial Garden to commemorate Britons who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon in 2001.

Halkin Street Garden was laid out for the Grosvenor family's Belgravia Estate in c.1915 by Estate Surveyor Edmund Wimperis on land that had previously been occupied by stables and mews. The Arts and Crafts inspired layout had a pool and fountain as a central feature. During the 1930s the lawn was said to have been used as a tennis court by Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson. In the 1980s the garden was considerably reduced when the Estate's Gardens Department had new offices and glasshouses built here. In 2008 the garden was reinstated to its original size as part of the development of Montrose Place and has been entirely re-landscaped, but incorporating the original fountain, which is now set into the north wall of the garden.

The Hallfield Estate was one of the first housing estates to be built in Westminster after WWII and was intended as a radical model for Paddington's post-war re-housing programme. The housing estate and Hallfield School were laid out on an area that had suffered severe bomb damage, where there had previously been C19th houses, including some detached villas with large gardens and the estate incorporated some mature trees from the former gardens. The blocks of flats are separated by wide greens, with flower beds near the housing and the landscaping included mounding, flowering shrubs, a hedged garden, and rose beds, and the school is set in landscaped grounds. The estate incorporated some mature trees from the former gardens, including fine London planes, horse chestnut, sycamore, ash, mulberry, magnolias and catalpa.

Hanover Square was laid out from c.1715 and named after George I, who was also Elector of Hanover, Germany. By the 1750s the central garden enclosure had paths in the shape of a cross with diagonals, replaced some time before 1787 with a circular perimeter path bordered by trees. After WWII it was re-landscaped with diagonal paths and a pond with a fountain near the north end. The statue of William Pitt the Younger has stood at the southern end of the square since 1831. The gardens had previously been for the private use of occupiers of the square, and owned by Hanover Square Garden Committee. They were purchased by Westminster City Council in 1997 to prevent them from becoming derelict.

Hanover Terrace was designed by John Nash as part of his Regent's Park development for the Crown Estate. It consists of a terrace of 20 houses arranged as one group overlooking a long strip of front garden and Regent's Park. Each house also had a small private rear garden and mews. Today the garden has lawn into which are set 2 circular rose beds, shrubs along the railings, mature and semi-mature trees.

Hide Tower Garden is modest architect-designed landscaping at the base of Hide Tower, a 1970s point block built for WCC. When it was built it was described as one of 'the sheerest, most uncompromising towers of London' (Nikolaus Pevsner), nearly 65m high and an early use of precast concrete. To the west of Hide Tower is an area of grass with trees, bounded by a concrete screen wall. To the south a row of Japanese cherry trees sprout out of a cement terrace. The rest of the site is mainly devoted to car parking.

Holy Trinity Church was built in 1824-28 to the designs of Sir John Soane, one of his three churches for the Church Commissioners, and the most expensive at £24,798. A stone building with a slate roof, the distinctive classical front to the south faces onto Marylebone Road. The chancel was remodelled in 1878 by G Somers Clarke. The church became redundant in 1956 and was used as offices for Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge until 2005, its conversion carried out by Handisyde and Taylor. It has now been converted into an event space, One Marylebone, which opened in 2007. The surrounding churchyard, which was once railed, has a number of mature trees and has been re-landscaped as a garden.