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| Cleveland Square & Cleveland Gardens |
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| Cleveland Square | ||||||
| Because
of its proximity to Hyde Park, and the ease of access to the West End,
Bayswater has always been a popular place to live.
A fashionable area in Victorian times, Bayswater was a home for the
establishment, the literati and empire builders of the era. |
containing grand stucco terraces, period maisonettes and large Victorian
houses. Quiet leafy streets contain mews houses and the large Squares feature attractive gardens. One of these and perhaps the most picturesque is Cleveland Square. Cleveland Square is a 'Grand' square of large Georgian terraces bordering a beautiful classic garden space. |
Between
Gloucester and Porchester terraces there are many tall, tree-shaded rows,
stuccoed and with pillared porches, with some discreet infilling. Cleveland Square, which rivalled Lancaster Gate as the most expensive address in Bayswater has an unusually large private garden to serve the massive range of six storeys on its north side. |
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| The
Garden |
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| "....the
measure of any great civilisation is in its cities and the measure of
a city's greatness is to be found in the quality of its public spaces,
its parks and squares..."
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The gardens of Cleveland Sqaure are surrounded on 3 sides by magnificant 150 year London Plane trees and grand stucco fronted buildings. On the northside the buildings back directly onto the garden. There are large expanses of lawn dotted with flowerbeds and muture plum and cherry trees.. There is small raised flower bed in the garden with a plaque that commemorates a barrage balloon moored here in WW2. The raised bed actually hides the concrete mooring that were to diificult to remove. |
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| Cleveland Gardens | ||||||
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Cleveland Gardens was established around 1855, soon after
Cleveland Square. Like many London gardens, the original iron railings were
removed during the Second World War and were replaced with concrete posts and
wire fencing. Along with the loss of the railing Cleveland Gardens lost 14
buildings due to bombing on the north side of the Gardens where the Hallfield
Estate now stands.
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During the 1970s and 1980s only a handful of houses
contributed to the upkeep of the gardens and a few dedicated residents struggled
to do their best with limited resources. Then in the mid 1990s the gardens came
under the umbrella of CSRA – the gardening hours were increased, the trees were
pruned, water was re-instated, and the path was gravelled.
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But in spite of these improvements, it soon became apparent
that the only way to make a real difference to the look of the gardens was to
replace the dilapidated and unattractive chain-link fencing. The problem was the
cost! However, after several years of hard work and perseverance of the CSRA and
with the help of our local councillor Robert Davis and John Zamit of SEBRA,
grants were sought and planning permission was eventually obtained for
traditional cast iron Victorian-style railings. These were installed in 2006,
soon followed by a brand new path of self-binding gravel and complete replanting
of the borders, designed to give open views into the gardens.
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| The cost of the railings, at around £100,000, was jointly
funded by CSRA, along with grants from English Heritage and Westminster City
Council’s Paddington Social & Community Fund. As part of the grant criteria,
CSRA opens the gardens to the public for a minimum of 21 days a year for a
period of ten years (currently the 1st and 3rd Thursday of
each month between approximately 10:00am and 4:00pm). CSRA is, rightly, very
proud of what has been achieved – the railings and the gardens look really
stunning and have transformed and enriched the local area well beyond
expectation.
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| Garden Key Application | ||||||
| To apply for a key to gain access to the gardens of Cleveland Square and Cleveland Gardens you need to be able to prove eligibility of residency relating to a property in either Cleveland Square or Cleveland Gardens W2. Before downloading the Garden Key application form, please click here to read the requirements necessary for garden key ownership. | ||||||
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All
images and text on this site © Cleveland Square and Gardens Residents
Associations and clevelandsquare.org For information regarding this site please email info@clevelandsquare.org |