Property Description

Ann’s Close has a Mews Style appearance but has no historic equine usage, approached through an entrance under a building on Kinnerton Street in Westminster. The Close contains 12 properties; cottages rather than traditional service buildings but it does date back to Victorian times, being named in 1842.

In World War II, a bomb is recorded falling directly onto Ann’s Close and as a result, there is little remaining evidence of previous equestrian usage in the present properties. The cul-de-sac is recorded as having a mixed classification of poverty when the London Poverty Maps were first published. Some households had comfortable living conditions where others were seen as poor in comparison.

Ann’s Close is part of Westminster City Council’s Belgravia Conservation Area; first designated in 1968, it was laid out as a fashionable residential area to the West of Buckingham Palace. There is a high degree of townscape uniformity and a formal layout based on a grid pattern. The area is predominantly residential with some shops on the edges. There are also a significant number of embassies, diplomatic buildings and institutional headquarters.

The small, enclosed cul-de-sac contains two, three and four storey rendered and painted buildings, surrounded by a stone floor. The roofs are hidden behind parapet walls and there are no garages or room for parking.

Kinnerton Street was used as a location for the film ‘The Fallen Idol’ in 1948, Carol Reed.

Everchanging Nature

Some of the original two storey buildings have been altered and extended and are now largely three and four stories high.

A few planning applications have been made since 2003, mainly minor alterations to the fenestration but a few significant changes where additional storeys have been added to the existing properties. Conservation Area controls now apply to new development in the Close and surrounding Mews.