Pelham Crescent Gardens

By the C17th the land in this area was largely owned by Henry Smith's Charity Estate, with part owned by the Thurloe Estate. Henry Smith, Alderman of London, had died in 1628 and left his fortune in trust for charity. The Trustees bought the estate c.1630 but the first recorded lease was not until 1664. A wedge of land within the Charity's Estate was owned by descendants of Sir William Blake (d.1630) and became the Thurloe Estate when Blake's descendent Anna Maria Browne conveyed it to John Thurloe Brace, her second husband, on their marriage in 1713. He was grandson to John Thurloe (1616-1668) Oliver Cromwell's Secretary of State. Two other parcels of land at the west of the Smith's Charity Estate by Sallad Lane separated a section of the estate lands, part of Brompton Heath and later the site of Evelyn Gardens, from the main estate land. The Trustees of Henry Smith were granted building leases by an Act of Parliament in 1772. Following the Napoleonic Wars the rapid development of areas of London began in earnest, including in this area of Kensington, which the Trustees of Henry Smith's Charity began to develop in 1823, awarding 60 year leases to James Bonnin for a plot south of the Thurloe Estate to build 8 houses and a cottage as a terrace to be named after Arthur George Onslow, one of the Trustees and later third Earl of Onslow, completed in 1824. In 1828 the Charity appointed George Basevi as architect and plans for the rest of the estate were submitted by the end of 1829.

Pelham Crescent, Pelham Place, Pelham Cottage and Park Cottage, now Park House, were completed by 1844. The houses have more ornamentation and detailing than those built for the estate in the succeeding years. There are Doric pilasters to the end houses and the two-storey stucco terrace overlooks a small crescent generously planted with trees and shrubs. The 1928 Report of the Royal Commission on London Squares describes the garden as an attractive open space with well-kept lawns and trees, surrounded by thick privet hedge. The management of the communal garden is carried out by a Garden Committee of residents; the upkeep is financed by selling of garden keys to residents and contributions from the estate. Up until 1932 when their leases expired, lessees of 1-27 Pelham Crescent and 1-29 and 2-18 Pelham Place had rights of use under their leases. There is a drinking fountain in Fulham Road by Pelham Crescent Gardens.

Famous residents of Pelham Crescent include architect George Godwin the elder at No. 11, the actor and manager Sir Nigel Playfair at No. 26, and the poet Edward John Trelawney at No. 7.