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Two garden enclosures provide communal gardens to the residents of Hyde Park Gardens, a terrace facing onto Bayswater Road and Kensington Gardens. The houses were designed by John Crake, a pupil of Decimus Burton, whose designs for the terrace were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1836. An engraving of the same year shows the garden railed but open to view.

Hyde Park Square was built from 1837 as part of the development of the extensive Paddington Estate of the Bishop of London, which was laid out from the early C19th. The layout of the garden today bears little relation to its early layout and it has been replanted and re-stocked, together with a woodland style area to encourage more wildlife. New gates were erected on the north and west sides in 2005.

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

Hyde Park was enclosed by Henry VIII as a royal deer park in the C16th and continued to be used as such in the C17th. It was first opened to the public in 1637. It was landscaped in c.1730 when two lakes were formed, the Serpentine and Long Water. Originally c.248 hectares, the site dwindled to c.138 hectares partly through the development of Kensington Gardens to the west. From 1820s subsequent landscape improvements were undertaken by Decimus Burton.

Irving Garden is an area of landscaping that consists of a simple lawn bounded by railings, located immediately behind the National Portrait Gallery and built in c.1890 on the site of Hemmings Row, which was demolished to build the Gallery. It surrounds the statue of the actor-manager Sir Henry Irving by Sir Thomas Brock, erected in 1910. The lawn and railings appears to be a post-war improvement as old photographs show that the area around the statue was once paved. This site has long been known for street performers and is at present the haunt of itinerant portrait artists. Nearby is a mid C19th vent shaft and exuberant lamp standard, and the white marble Edith Cavell Memorial, 1920, by Sir George Frampton.

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

The royal park is on the former gardens and park of Kensington Palace, established when William III purchased Nottingham House in 1689, incorporating land from Hyde Park. The park is largely in Westminster, the westernmost strip in Kensington & Chelsea contains Kensington Palace and its gardens. There are remnants of the early C18th landscaping of Bridgeman and Switzer and the subsequent layout by William Kent, such as the Broad Walk, Round Pond, Long Water and Serpentine. Some of the built structures remain including the Palace and Orangery. In the later C18th and early C19th the formal layout was progressively softened, leaving largely open areas crossed by paths between entrances and features within the park, and with numerous mature trees. The Italian Garden dates from 1860s; the Albert Memorial built 1863-72. The Princess Diana Memorial Playground opened in 2000.

Kensington Gardens Square in Bayswater is a mid-C19th town square of stucco-fronted houses, originally built as family houses for members of the then-emerging professional classes. The communal garden, which continues to be for the private use of residents of the surrounding houses, is roughly triangular, and is divided east / west by a terrace of houses to create two discrete garden areas. The gardens' railings were removed in WWII and replaced with wire mesh, although replica wrought-iron railings have been reinstated as part of the upgrading of the gardens. The gardens are largely lawn, with shrubs and a perimeter path; among the trees are a number of fine London planes.

Kent Terrace was built as part of Regent's Park Crown Estate development, a unified terrace designed by John Nash. It was built by William Smith, one of the number of speculative builders working within Nash's overall design, one of the last terraces to be built. Nash recommended Smith's scheme to the Commissioners in 1827 on condition that Smith would 'lay out the ground in front in an ornamental manner'.

Kildare Gardens is a small town square, part of a development of c.1850-55. The garden was provided for the use of residents of the surrounding houses and was maintained by a Committee of residents. The garden remains in the private ownership of Kildare Gardens Committee although it is now open to the public. Re-landscaping was carried out in the early 1990s and included a serpentine brick path through the garden, which is now part grassed and part brick-paved. The path meanders through the garden from one entrance to a circular seating feature at the other end and a small informal grass area at the heart of the space.

The Lancaster Gate estate was built in the mid C19th on land that was previously farmland. A popular Tea Gardens existed nearby from 1795, closing in 1854 when the area was developed for housing. The garden square had houses on three sides, with Christ Church on the fourth side, The church was demolished in 1977 apart from its tower and spire, which are now within private housing that overlooks the garden. Between the garden and Bayswater Road is a hard-landscaped public open space with two fine monuments, the Christ Church War Memorial and the Meath Memorial.

Lancaster House was built in 1825-29, the grandest and only free-standing of the mansions in St James's, set in a large garden. It was designed as York House by Benjamin Wyatt for the Duke of York, who died in 1827 before it was finished. It was taken over and completed by the 2nd Marquess of Stafford, later 1st Duke of Sutherland, and became the focus of the family's social and political life. In 1913 the lease was purchased for the nation by Sir William Lever, who renamed it Lancaster House. From 1924 it was used by the London Museum, but in 1952-3 it was restored by the Ministry of Works for conferences and government hospitability, a use that continues today. The gardens are surrounded by wall and railings of 1833, behind which is a thick yew hedge and shrubbery, the garden front giving onto a broad terrace from which steps descend to the lawn. Flanking the carriage entrance against the east garden wall are 2 huge stone statues of Sculpture and Architecture by E H Baily of 1828, which came from the east front of Buckingham Palace.

In 1630 Lord Leicester leased former commonland here to build Leicester House but was required to lay out public walks on the remaining part. Initially called Leicester Fields, the central areas were fenced and it was planted in c.1720-25. A statue of George I stood in the centre from 1748, but removed following vandalism in 1871 by which time Leicester Square was a less prestigious neighbourhood. In 1874 Albert Grant MP purchased and presented the newly laid out garden to the MBW, having erected a Shakespeare memorial fountain in the centre. In the C20th Leicester Square was progressively rebuilt, becoming the centre of the entertainment industry. The gardens inevitably suffered by heavy use, and were re-landscaped in c.1993, when the statues and fountain were restored although a prominent theatre ticket booth was erected. Since 2008, Leicester Square has been re-landscaped, re-opening in May 2012 in time for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Leinster Square, begun in the 1850s, was largely the work of builder and speculator George Wyatt although it is not known who designed the central garden. By the 1890s it was managed by a Residents' Garden Committee whose records indicate the emphasis placed on good behaviour and maintenance of the ornamental plantings. The original layout was probably that shown on the 1869 OS map, a rectangular garden with perimeter hedge of trees and shrubs, perimeter path and, on its east-west alignment, 3 trees and a central oval bed flanked by two circular beds containing shrubs and/or trees. A number of the mature London plane trees probably date from the original layout, now augmented by additional mature trees. The garden was refurbished in 1977 with extensive planting that largely survives today and the restoration of its iron railings, the originals probably removed in WWII.