Description
This area was once part of the Holland House estate, which in the late C18th consisted of c.200 acres, but the original estate had once been nearly 500 acres, extending almost to Fulham Road. The development of the Addison Road area of the estate commenced from 1822 under the 3rd Lord Holland, whose estate was by then running at a loss. Oakwood Court was the first development of large flats built here at the turn of the century on the site of a lake, previously the fishponds, called The Moats. The small railed and hedged garden was provided for the use of the tenants.
Practical Information
| Site location | Oakwood Court, Holland Park |
|---|---|
| Postcode | W14 |
| What3Words | ///shirts.ashes.renew |
| Type of Site | Private Garden |
| Borough | Kensington & Chelsea |
| Open to Public | No |
| Opening Times | private |
| Public Transport | Tube: High Street Kensington (District, Circle). London Overground/Tube (District): Kensington (Olympia). |
| Research Updated | 1 October 2007 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Oakwood Court consists of 8-storey blocks, and the plans were produced by William G Hunt, architect of Bedford Gardens, who built Nos. 1-30 in c.1900. Nos. 31-62 were built by Richardson and Gill in 1928-30. In the 1950s/60s Wates built houses north of Oakwood Court. In 1928 the garden was owned by Associated London Properties Ltd who maintained it, and at that time it was described as 'an oblong enclosure maintained as a lawn, with a large tree in the middle and a shrubbery around the border'.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ246794 |
|---|---|
| Size in hectares | 0.1213 |
| Site Ownership | private |
| Site Management | Garden committee |
| Dates | 1920s |
| 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 | Kensington & Chelsea |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Holland Park |
| Tree Preservation Order | Not known |
| 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
St Barnabas Church was built in 1825 designed by Lewis Vulliamy, and has a pleasant garden between the church and vicarage, with a beech hedge at the road boundary. The site is overlooked by the backs of Oakwood Court. This area was once part of the Holland House estate, which in the late C18th consisted of c.200 acres, but the original estate had once been nearly 500 acres, extending almost to Fulham Road. The development of the Addison Road area of the estate commenced from 1822 under the third Lord Holland, whose estate was by then running at a loss.
Leighton House Museum is the former home of Victorian artist Frederic Lord Leighton (1830-1896), a grand house with a large secluded garden. The house with purpose-built painting studio was designed for him in the mid-1860s by architect George Aitchison on a plot adjacent to Holland Farm, part of the Holland Estate. At that time the area to the north was open land, but gradually other grand houses were built, and the area became a centre for artists, writers and politicians. Leighton's immediate neighbour was the painter Val Prinsep, whose house by Philip Webb was built at the same time as Leighton's, and later residents included Sir Luke Fildes. Leighton lived here until his death in 1896, the house then opening as a museum. With funding from the HLF, the garden of Leighton House was restored in 1997 based on a plan of 1896 that showed formal beds immediately in front of the house and a large lawn with perimeter herbaceous borders. A trellis covered part of the path on the west of the garden and two mounds were originally planted with substantial trees.
This is a strip of private garden in front of Nos. 1-7 Edwardes Place, set behind a brick wall with railings, gate, trees and shrubberies. The houses were built in c.1820 as part of Lord Kensington's Edwardes Square development, and undertaken in the first period of building that was focussed along the Kensington to Hammersmith Road.