Property Description

De Vere Cottages is a part-cobbled cul-de-sac off Canning Place in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, parallel to De Vere Mews, another original/ surviving Mews street. De Vere Cottages, previously known as Laconia Mews, contains 16 properties used for residential purposes. It is located on the site of an original Mews but has been re-developed to a degree that it no longer contains any surviving Mews properties.

At some point between October 1940 and June 1941, a high explosive bomb fell onto Palace Gate, just east of the Mews. The Mews was noted as having comfortable living conditions with ordinary household earnings for the time when the London Poverty Maps were first published.

The Mews is part of the ‘De Vere’ Conservation Area; originally designated in 1969 as Kensington New Town, with the other two joined areas (Kensington Court and Cornwall) areas being designated separately soon after. In 1985, the boundaries were modified and revised.

The three storey properties have plain or painted brickwork facades with pitched roof styles, surrounded by a cobbled and paved road surface.

Everchanging Nature

Originally the stable/ coach house accommodation for the main houses on the surrounding streets, the primary purpose of the Mews properties is now residential.

Before and since 2003 there have been a few planning applications made for alterations to the properties in the Mews; most notably roof extensions and changes to the fenestration of the properties. Conservation Area controls apply to any new development in the Mews. The entire Mews was converted into cottages between 1918 and 1925.