*London’s magnificent “Mews Houses & Streets”-Pt5 - 'Hyde Park Gardens Mews' & 'Bathurst Mews' London W2

My London Shoes loves the unique mews streets that are scattered around certain parts of London – so much so that, in the early days of Shoes, I created a ‘London’s Mews Streets & Houses’ category within the menu of the London Shoes website – within which there are currently 4 ‘mews’ blog articles, that I published a few years back.

I hadn’t done a ‘Mews’ blog for a few years, and so this week my London Shoes enjoyed a visit to a couple of these wonderful unique London landmarks – namely “Hyde Park Gardens Mews” & “Bathurst Mews”

These mews cobbled streets and their uniquely designed small terraced houses, were originally built as service roads or courtyards, situated behind the massive grand properties that were constructed in the more wealthy districts of London throughout the Georgian and early Victorian period.

The mews houses were built primarily as stables with small living accommodation rooms upstairs. The carriages and horses were ‘parked up’ in the stables – whilst coachmen and service staff crammed themselves into the tiny rooms upstairs.

However – the importance of the mews streets and houses faded rapidly following the invention and eventual affordability of the motor car.

Suddenly, horses, horse drawn carriages and coachmen, were no longer needed and as a result, the rich and wealthy had no further use for the mews houses that came with their posh old houses.

By the time of the late Victorian and early Edwardian times – many of these mews streets and their houses were classified as being some of the poorest housing in London.

But as the decades moved on – these uniquely designed and located little properties, started to take on a new lease of life. The stables were converted into garages – the living quarters were extended upwards, and sometimes downwards. All of a sudden they were desirable properties again – for either residential or commercial usage.

By the time of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ mews houses had become very trendy and in demand by the celebs of the time – with the likes of:- Ringo Starr / Sean Connery / Michael Caine / Judy Garland / plus loads more celebs / writers / politicians / actors….all forking out a few quid to purchase a mews house for their London residence.

They are as much in demand today as they were back then – maybe even more so – with the likes of Noel Gallagher / Guy Ritchie / Madonna / Posh n’ Becks, being examples of mews house owners in today’s celeb world.

Today, there are said to be currently around 9,000 mews properties throughout London – mainly in the Kensington / Westminster / Notting Hill / Knightsbridge / Bayswater districts where some of London’s largest and most expensive residential houses can be found.

An average mews house in today’s housing market would probably set you back around £3m as a minimum – a far cry from a time when they were almost viewed as slum dwellings.

So this week, my London Shoes decided it was time to knock-out another couple of blog postings within the Shoes category of ‘London’s Mews Streets & Houses’ – and for starters I headed off to what I call the ‘Bayswater’ district of London – but the area is actually technically referred to as “Tyburnia” – so called after the historic public gallows site of ‘Tyburn’ that stood just north of the Marble Arch end of Hyde Park – and probably more importantly, its residents wanted the district to sound as ‘posh’ as nearby ‘Belgravia’.

Today, Tyburnia is defined by the area of streets from the south of Paddington down to the northern side of Hyde Park(ie the Bayswater Road) – and the 2 mews streets London Shoes visited within that area were “Hyde Park Gardens Mews” and “Bathurst Mews”

So here’s the story behind both these 2 wonderfully magnificent little London streets.

HYDE PARK GARDENS MEWS

Hyde Park Garden Mews was constructed during 1836–1840 and is located in the district known as ‘Tyburnia’ – an area of streets between Paddington and the northern stretch of Hyde Park.

Hyde Park Garden Mews consists of 46 residential properties – which were originally built as housing for the coachmen and staff in service working for the wealthy owners of the grand mansions/buildings of the Hyde Park Estate surrounding the Mews.

Once the motor car started to replace horse drawn transport – the wealthy owners of the grand houses, had no more need for the mews houses and stables that came with their properties – and as a result, the mews houses with Hyde Park Gardens Mews were sold off.

In the 1960’s actor Sir Michael Caine owned a mews house in Hyde Park Gardens Mews.

Today – with its characteristic Victorian cobbled street, these quaint Hyde Park Gardens Mews houses are very much sought-after properties – and as a result are very expensive!!!

Many of the houses in Hyde Park Gardens Mews have (quite rightly) Grade II Listed protection – so that future generations can understand their historic significance and appreciate their place in London’s history.