Dolphin Square Garden *

Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.

Dolphin Square Garden was built on the site of the former building yard of the developer and builder Thomas Cubitt. Cubitt had leased the land from the 1820s from Robert, 2nd Earl Grosvenor. After Cubitt's death in 1855 the property reverted to the 3rd Marquess of Westminster (grandson of 2nd Earl Grosvenor) and the Grosvenor Estate, and in 1858 the Government took the lease and built the Army Clothing Factory on the site, which eventually closed in 1933. WCC had plans to construct a large residential development here, Ormonde Court, but this ran into financial difficulties. A.P. Costain took over the project, building Dolphin Square from 1935-37, with the first tenants moving in in 1936. The estate changed ownership a number of times in the 1950s, WCC eventually buying the lease in the 1960s for £4.5million and subletting it to the newly formed Dolphin Square Trust. In 2006 the estate was sold by WCC and Dolphin Square Trust to Westbrook Partners, an American private equity business who began updating the décor of the communal areas.

Dolphin Square was built to the designs of Cecil Eve and Gordon Jeeves in 1937 as a 'high class' modern residential complex with thirteen wings grouped around a large internal courtyard. The development is said to have got its name at the suggestion of A J Costain, the uncle of Sir Albert Costain, who developed the square. He was headmaster of a school in Colwyn Bay whose school magazine was called 'The Dolphin' and he suggested Dolphin Court as the name for the new development. Due to the configuration of blocks around a courtyard garden, Dolphin Square was decided upon. The 13 buildings were all named after British Admirals and other figures from maritime history, including well-known names such as Nelson, Drake and Raleigh, together with perhaps less well known people, such as Grenville, Collingwood and Frobisher. The gardens were designed by Richard Suddell, at that time President of the Institute of Landscape Architects. He also designed the roof garden for Selfridge & Co. During WWII air raid shelters were created below Frobisher House, the garage became an ambulance depot, the gymnasium was used as a hospital and Grenville House was used in 1940 as General De Gaulle's Free French Headquarters. Dolphin Square suffered bomb damage and 12 people were killed. Dolphin Square has had many famous residents including numerous politicians, figures from military intelligence and espionage, and notorious figures including Lord Haw-Haw, William Joyce, and Oswald Mosley. It also attracted celebrities from the world of entertainment such as Arthur Askey, Tommy Trinder and Bud Flanagan.

The Dolphin Fountain in the centre of the garden was commissioned from sculptor James Butler RA in 1987. The Moroccan Garden was also landscaped in the 1980s following a competition, and also has a fountain, raised lavender beds, olives, cistus and other Mediterranean plants.