Sloane Square

The area was within the Manor of Chelsea owned by Westminster Abbey and the Crown and purchased by Sir Hans Sloane in 1712. On his death the estate was divided between his two daughters, the eastern part going to Elizabeth, Lady Cadogan, becoming the Cadogan Estate due to her marriage to Charles Cadogan; the family remains a major landholder of the area. Lord Cadogan with Henry Holland as architect began developing the area from the 1770s over an area of c.90acres, which was to be called Hans Town. Sloane Square was laid out enclosing a small village green, which was bordered with posts and chains although it was later crossed by roads until the mid C20th when post WWII the traffic was re-routed around the central space. The War Memorial was repositioned and a fountain was commissioned from Gilbert Ledward in 1953. In the C19th the residential nature of the houses around the square had changed, with buildings now of the late C19th and C20th in a variety of styles. The Royal Court Theatre was built by Bertie Crewe in 1888, and was recently renovated in the late C20th; the Peter Jones Store was built in c.1935. The public square is paved and has a line of London plane trees along its boundaries, and contains a statue of Hans Sloane, the Ledward fountain, and a drinking fountain. The landscaping has recently been renewed to a high specification.