York Terrace West

York Terrace was built as part of John Nash's original conception for what has been called the 'jewel in the crown', The Regent's Park. The land has been Crown property almost continuously since 1538 when Henry VIII appropriated it for his hunting chase, and this area was known as Marylebone Park after the nearby village. At the end of the Civil War it had been sold by Cromwell to a John Spencer but reverted to the Crown at the Restoration and was subsequently leased to various noblemen and largely used for farming. The final lease-holder was the Duke of Portland, whose lease was due to revert to the Crown in 1811. In preparation for this, John Fordyce, who had been appointed Surveyor General of His Majesty's Land Revenue in 1794, was authorised to produce a plan for the area of Marylebone Park and various architects competed for the tender. On Fordyce's death in 1809 the offices of Land Revenue were combined with those of Woods and Forests and the architects of the two departments were asked to produce plans. John Nash (1752-1835), who was official architect to the Commission of Woods and Forest and a friend of the Prince Regent, designed the layout of the park as it is today as part of his grand plan for London, which was approved by the Treasury in October 1811. His plan had an avenue stretching from Marylebone via Portland Place and Regent Street to Carlton House Terrace and Gardens (q.v.), and included the 400-acre park, which was to be surrounded by palatial terraces and villas. The Prince Regent agreed to let the new park be named after him.

The terraces were built between 1821-32 and were given names that reflected Royal patronage. Cambridge Terrace, built 1825 by Richard Mott to Nash's design, took its name from Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. York Terrace, built 1822-3 took its name form Frederick Duke of York, younger brother of George IV. It was designed by Nash in two separate groups of 20 houses apiece, split by an open vista down to Hardwick's Marylebone Parish Church. The houses had their main entrances in the mews on the south side and thus presented an uninterrupted façade to Regent's Park, although they appeared as two long palaces. The eastern half was built by James Burton and the western by William Mountford Nurse. The terraces were administered by the Commission for Paving and Lighting, which was set up after the gardens had been laid out. The Commission met monthly and was chaired by a succession of noblemen including Lords Lowther, Duncannon and Boston. Railings around the garden enclosures had been erected as part of the original design. During WWII they were taken down for scrap and stored at Willesden Junction but it appears they were never used. York Terrace is now largely divided into flats and offices and has had various distinguished tenants over the years including William Charles McReady, manager of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Mrs Elizabeth Reid, founder of Bedford College, and author Hugh Walpole. Maintenance of the gardens is now the responsibility of the Crown Estates Paving Commission, the successor to the original Paving and Lighting Commission.

The Survey of the Crown Estates of 1835 shows the garden layout with lawn and a series of planted beds along the north, a perimeter path with access paths to each house. Planting is shown along the front and side boundaries, punctuated by entrances in the centre and at each end. Today the garden has dispensed with paths and has a long well-stocked flower bed along the north, a series of urns set into the grass and trees including silver birch, catalpa, mytle and plane.