Kensington Palace Gardens

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Kensington Palace Gardens is a street in west central London which contains some of the grandest and most expensive houses in the world. It was the location of the British government MI9 torture center the London Cage used during the Second World War and the Cold War.

A tree-lined avenue half a mile long in the heart of embassy land, Kensington Palace Gardens is the "most exclusive address" in London, according to Knight Frank. It is one of the most expensive residential streets in the world, and has long been known as "Billionaires Row", due to the wealth of its private residents, although the majority of its current occupants are embassies and ambassadorial residences.

It is immediately to the west of Kensington Gardens and connects Notting Hill Gate with Kensington High Street. The southern section of Kensington Palace Gardens is called Palace Green.

1 Background
2 Current occupants
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Background

It was built from the 1840s onwards, on part of the grounds of Kensington Palace and the freehold still belongs to the Crown Estate. The palace, which is the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, fronts the southern part of the street on the eastern side. The houses at the northern end are mostly Italianate, while those at the southern end are mostly in the Queen Anne style. For much of the 20th century a large proportion of the houses was occupied by embassies and ambassadors' residences. Some still are, but others have been renovated by the Crown Estate and sold to private buyers on long leases. One of these was bought in 2004 by the Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who in 2006 was listed by Forbes Magazine as the fifth richest man in the world. The sale was widely misreported at £70 million,^[1] before accurate figures were available from HM Land Registry, where records state that on 30 June 2004, 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens, along with three mews houses at the rear of the property, sold for £57,145,967^[2]

Formerly, this house was owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One racing boss. On October 8th, 2001, he purchased the house from Iranian scholar and philanthropist Dr David Khalili for £50 million. This was substantially less than the asking price of £85 million when it was placed on the market by Savills in spring 2001. However, it was reported that Ecclestone's wife, Slavica, never liked the 55,000 square foot, 18 bedroom mansion so they never moved in.

Khalili spent three years and more than £20 million turning the two houses into one, building a swimming pool and indulging in his taste for marble floors and pillars (with marble from the same quarry as that used for the Taj Mahal).

Paul Reuter, the founder of the Reuters news agency, was also a former resident.

No 8 was used as an interrogation centre for German POWs during World War II and was known as the London Cage. The house is now divided into four apartments. Flat 3, which has been designed by international architect David Chipperfield, is currently on the market as a three bedroomed apartment valued at a minimum of £13.25 million through Knight Frank.

Chancery of the Russian Federation

Due mainly to the presence of high-profile terrorist targets such as the Israeli and Russian Embassies both ends of the street have gates and checkpoints and a heavy armed police presence, mostly Diplomatic Protection Group officers. Some of the buildings also have crash barriers. This has the side-effect of making it extremely quiet in terms of traffic for a central London road, possibly increasing its desirability further.

The street is still lit by very dim Victorian-style gas streetlights.

[edit] Current occupants

Noam Gottesman is still living next to the Israeli embassy, but seems to now sell his house to Lakshmi Mittal for 117 million £. Current occupiers and residents include:

5 — Russian embassy (consular department)
6-7 — Russian Embassy (chancery) 51°30′25.49″N, 0°11′26.71″W
8 - Sub-divided private residence
9 — residence of the IndiaHigh Commissioner
10 - Jonathan Hunt, founder of Foxtons
11 - Official Residence of the ambassador of France
12a — Official residence of the ambassador of Nepal

Residence of the Russian ambassador

13 — The official residence of the ambassador of Russia
14 — The official residence of the ambassador of Finland
15a — Leonard Blavatnik
15b — Leonard Blavatnik
18-19 — Lakshmi Mittal, 51°30′25.41″N, 0°11′29.80″W, Bird's eye view
20 — Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei. The number eight can be seen on the roof, symbolizing the phrase Ba Shi Fa Cai" ("the number eight brings prosperity"). 51°30′27'38″N, 0°11′30.68″W
21 — Lebanese embassy
22 — Official residence of the ambassador of Kuwait
23 — Official residence of the ambassador of Japan
24 — Official residence of the ambassador of Saudi Arabia