Property Description
Harriet Walk is a very long through road, with an additional cul-de-sac section between Lowndes Street and Lowndes Square in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Harriet Walk contains 14 properties used for a mixture of residential and commercial purposes.
At some point between October 1940 and June 1941, a high explosive bomb fell directly onto 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. In addition to this the main houses, which the Mews originally served, were among the wealthiest in the area.
The Mews is part of the ‘Hans Town’ Conservation Area. One of Kensington’s largest Conservation Areas designated in 1971 and further extended multiple times up to, most recently 1995, the name is taken from Sir Hans Sloane who acquired the area of Chelsea and whose marriage into the Cadogan family led to the development of the estate. The area is split into Knightsbridge, East of Sloane Street and West of Sloane Street sub-areas; being very architecturally diverse from early 18th Century to late Georgian Times and 19th Century to commercial redevelopment in the 20th Century.
The one, two, three, four and six storey properties have rendered or painted brickwork facades with a variety of mansard, flat and parapet roof styles, surrounded by a tarmacadam road surface and partial flush/ raised pavements. There are both intact and converted garages present in the Mews. There is a mix of original, modern and mews-style houses spread unevenly along the long road.
Everchanging Nature
Originally the stable/ coach house accommodation for the main houses on Lowndes Square and Sloane Street, the primary purpose of the Mews properties is now residential though some commercial activity still takes place.
Before and since 2003 there have been a number of planning applications made for alterations to the properties in the Mews, most notably; the erection of new buildings, new shop front installations and alterations to the existing fenestration on some properties. Conservation Area controls apply to any new development in the Mews.