THE GROSVENOR ESTATES

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The Grosvenor family own two urban estates in London - Belgravia and Mayfair. In 1677 Sir Thomas Grosvenor, a Cheshire landowner, married the twelve-year-old Mary Davies. She was the heiress of her father Alexander Davies, who had been the heir of his uncle the moneylender Sir Hugh Audley. The last had created acquired the 100 acres of modern Mayfair and 400 acres of what became Pimlico and Belgravia.

The survival of the Grosvenor Estates into the 21^stC was largely achieved through the foresight and the work of the 2^nd Duke of Westminster. He created a trust in favour of his then one-year-old kinsman the 6^th Duke.

In 1988 Westminster City Council tried to end the use of 532 of Grosvenor Estates flat as being for the working class . The local authority claimed that the term had become obsolete. The High Court ruled in the Estates favour.

Location: The Grosvenor Office, 70 Grosvenor Street, W1K 3JP (purple, blue)

Website: www.grosvenor.com www.grosvenorlondon.com

Belgravia

The original St George s Hospital stood on Hyde Park Corner, which was on the north-eastern tip of the Grosvenors Belgravia estate. In 1980 the hospital was relocated to Tooting in south London. It is reputed that following the closure of the original site, the Department of Health looked forward to banking a healthy sum through selling on its long lease to property developers. However, the Grosvenor Estates pointed out that the original lease stated that should the site ever cease to be used as a hospital then the land should automatically revert to the ground landlord. This duly occurred and the building was reopened as The Lanesborough, a luxury hotel.

Location: 1 Lanesborough Place, SW1X 7TA (red, orange)

Mayfair

In 1720 the portion of land called Mayfair began to be developed for housing. The district s landlords were able to draw on the lessons that had been generated by the London s westwards growth since the mid-17^thC. Thus, they were able to make precise stipulations on matters such as layout and building use and so have the leverage with which to guard against the social deterioration of the district.

It was only in the 1820s that Park Lane, on Mayfair s western edge, became a fashionable address. This followed the execution of a number of improvements that had been carried out to Hyde Park. These included replacing its brick wall with iron railings and the erection of the Decimus Burton-designed Hyde Park Corner Screen (1825). An additional factor may have been the arrival of the Grosvenors, whose previous house at Pimlico had been demolished in order to provide a site for the Millbank Penitentiary. Grosvenor House dominated Park Lane between Mount Street and Upper Grosvenor Street.

After the First World War, domestic help became increasingly expensive to hire and thus the great townhouses of the West End became increasingly costly to run. Even the 2^nd Duke of Westminster moved out of Grosvenor House. In 1924 the property was sold to the soap magnate Lord Leverhulme, who planned to use the building to house a public art gallery. However, he died before he could see the plan to completion. His executors sold on the property to developers. The building was the first of the grand Mayfair mansions to be demolished. The Grosvenor House hotel (1928) was built on its site. The British version of the board game Monopoly was launched during the 1930s. For the game s first players, building hotels on Park Lane would have resonated of reportage.

During the Second World War the City of London was heavily bombed and this meant that there was more pressure for office space. Thus, the trend towards Mayfair s depopulation and commercialisation was reinforced.

Location: 86-90 Park Lane, W1Y 3TB (orange, blue)

David Backhouse 2024