Description
Gloucester Square was laid out as part of George Gutch's 'Final Plan for Tyburnia' of 1838 on the estate lands of the Church Commissioners, in an axis containing Sussex Square, Cambridge and Oxford Squares and Norfolk Crescent. Its name derives from William, Duke of Gloucester, who had a townhouse nearby. The south side was designed in 1844 by George Ledwell Taylor; the other three sides are now redevelopments of the C20th. The garden enclosure was provided as a private garden for occupiers of the square. Nowadays there are roses and flowerbeds, and substantial mature London plane trees.
Practical Information
| Site location | Gloucester Square, Paddington |
|---|---|
| Postcode | W2 |
| What3Words | ///fund.tiger.badly |
| Type of Site | Garden Square |
| Borough | Westminster |
| Open to Public | Occasionally |
| Opening Times | Has opened for London Open Gardens. Otherwise private, for keyholders only |
| Facilities | Children's play area |
| Public Transport | Tube: Paddington (District, Circle, Bakerloo, Hammersmith & City), Lancaster Gate (Central). Bus: 7, 12, 15, 23, 27, 36, 94, 274. |
| Research Updated | 1 June 2005 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Originally the site of the Bishop of London's farm, the name of the square derives from William, Duke of Gloucester, who had a town house nearby. Gloucester Square was laid out as part of George Gutch's 'Final Plan for Tyburnia' of 1838 on the estate lands of the Church Commissioners, in an axis containing Sussex Square, Cambridge and Oxford Squares and Norfolk Crescent (q.q.v.). The south side of Gloucester Square was designed in 1844 by George Ledwell Taylor (1788-1873); the other three sides are now redevelopments of the C20th. The garden enclosure was provided as a private garden for occupiers of the square, and it was managed by a Committee of occupiers, the expenses of maintenance assessed proportionately on each house. The Paddington Estate Trustees had the power to undertake maintenance work in the case of neglect. In 1928 the garden was described 'an attractive open space with a hedge along the sides abutting on roads.'
In 1954 a 90-acre area of land within the Church Commissioners estate containing C19th terraces south of Sussex Gardens was consolidated as the Hyde Park Estate. Nowadays there are roses and flowerbeds, and substantial mature London plane trees; the central mound may correspond to a central feature shown on the 1872 Ordnance Survey Map. It is surrounded by privet hedge and wire mesh fencing. Famous residents include politician and writer Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury (1887-1969) who lived at No. 43 and Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), who died at No. 35.
In 1954 a 90-acre area of land within the Church Commissioners estate containing C19th terraces south of Sussex Gardens was consolidated as the Hyde Park Estate. Nowadays there are roses and flowerbeds, and substantial mature London plane trees; the central mound may correspond to a central feature shown on the 1872 Ordnance Survey Map. It is surrounded by privet hedge and wire mesh fencing. Famous residents include politician and writer Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury (1887-1969) who lived at No. 43 and Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), who died at No. 35.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ270810 |
|---|---|
| Size in hectares | 0.623 |
| Site Ownership | Church Commissioners |
| Site Management | Estate Management Scheme; Garden Committee |
| Dates | 1844 |
| Designers | George Gutch |
| Listed Structures | LBII: No.43 and Nos. 44-49 Gloucester Square |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | Yes |
| Local Authority | Westminster |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Bayswater |
| Tree Preservation Order | Yes |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
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.
Sussex Gardens is a private tree-lined avenue, most of which was known as Grand Junction Road until post-1914 (Sussex Gardens only west of London Street). With Westbourne Terrace it is one of two main axes in the planned development of Tyburnia, as laid out for the Bishop of London by his surveyors S P Cockerell (d.1827) and his successor George Gutch. It is aligned at the west end on the spire of St James's Church. Although the individual gardens are extremely narrow and restricted to patchy grass, privet and shrubs, bordered by a mixture of railings and wire mesh, the longitudinal effect of the infrequent mature London plane and hawthorn is magnificent. At the western end is Sussex Gardens Open Space, a triangular garden in front of the church.
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.
