Kensington Living
Campden Hill Square
Campden Hill Square is a prime residential square consisting of very large family houses. The square slopes steeply down to Holland Park Avenue. There is a large communal central garden and all the houses also have their own large front gardens.
Most of the houses are four to five storeys with stucco up to first floor level. Due to the height of the buildings there is a great feeling of space and openness. Some of the houses have attractive bay windows above ground floor level.
There is a good view looking north towards Holland Park, especially from the south side of the square.
In Tudor times, there was a 20 acre farm called Stonehills south of what is know Holland Park Avenue. Originally it was owned by Sir Walter Cope, who sold it to Robert Horseman in 1599. Eventually it came into the possession of the Lloyd Family who sold it in 1823 to Joshua Flesher Hanson, a substantial developer in the Notting Hill and Holland Park area.
Hanson designed a square similar to Regency Square which he had built in Brighton in 1818. It was originally called Notting Hill Square but the name was changed to Campden Hill Square in 1893.
The new square provided for terraced houses around three sides of a large garden enclosure. Hanson may have built some of the houses himself but generally granted the leases to other builders.
