Holland Park Living
Addison Avenue
The street was named after Joseph Addison who lived at Holland House. He was an essayist and poet of the late 17th Century who’s main claim to fame now is as the founder of the Spectator.
The southern section of Addison Avenue (up to Queendale Road) was built between 1840 and 1843. Nos. 18-36 (even) are on the east side and overlook Queensdale Walk at the back. Nos. 17-35 (odd) are on the west side. They are generally two-storey houses with stuccoed façades built in pairs.
The houses are not identical because individual plots were take by many different builders. These included: James Wood, a bricklayer from Hampstead (Nos. 18 and 20); Thomas and Christopher Gabriel, timber merchants from Lambeth (Nos. 22-28); James Livesey a plumber from Lisson Grove (Nos. 30-36); Charles Patch, a builder (Nos. 17 and 19); George Pratt (Nos. 21 and 23); John Cole Bennett (Nos. 25 and 27); Walter Hawkins and William Strong, plasterers from Rochester Row (Nos. 29 and 31); and Thomas Warwick and Christopher Garwood, builders from Oxford Street (Nos. 33 and 35).
North of Queensdale Road, John Brewer (aptly named since he was a wine merchant) took Nos. 37-55 on the west side of the street. Clearly his plans went awry because his mortgage lender gave the plots back to Richardson’s trustee in bankruptcy in 1843. Michael Goodall, a carpenter, and John Parkinson, a glazier, then took over the building of Nos. 53 and 55, and John Arrowsmith, a house decorator from New Bond Street, took over Nos. 49-51 which were built in 1847.
On the opposite side of the street, building agreements for plots proceeded slowly. In 1841 John Parkes, an ironmonger, built Nos. 38 and 40. Nos. 42 and 44 were built by John and Samuel Peirson, ironmongers from Bishopsgate in 1844. In 1847 Nos. 54 and 56 were granted to John Buckmaster, described as a gentleman of Hungerford Market. The intervening houses - Nos. 46-52 - were not allocated until 1850. They were taken by William and Frederick Stent, surveyors from St Marylebone, and they were built by W G May, a Bayswater builder.
These houses continued the pattern of paired houses. There are two main storeys with basements and attic rooms. The houses are joined by paired entrances which were built as side units between the houses. The houses themselves have ornate windows. At ground floor level the windows are square headed with architraves and pediments and metal balconies. At first floor level the windows have semi-circular heads. All the houses had to follow a standard design, unlike the houses to the south of Queensdale Road.
Smaller houses were built closer to Holland Park Avenue. Nos. 1-11 (odd) were built in 1850-2 by John Parkinson, a plumber. Nos. 2-10 (even) were built by George Langford, a builder, much later in the 1860s.
