Egerton Crescent

Egerton Crescent, on the right

Egerton Crescent is a street in Kensington, London, that has been called "the most expensive street in Britain".

Location

The street runs roughly north to south in a curve, with both ends forming t-junctions on Egerton Gardens, which in turn runs roughly north to south between Egerton Terrace and Brompton Road.

History

The houses were designed by George Basevi and built by James Bonnin in the 1840s, when it was called Brompton Crescent, but was renamed Egerton Crescent in 1896 in honour of Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater.^[1]

In December 2013, it was named the "most expensive street in Britain", for the second successive year, with an average house price of £7.4 million.^[1]

In December 2015, it was the second most expensive street in England, with an average property price of £7,550,000, according to research from Lloyds Bank, based on Land Registry data.^[2]

Notable residents

• Major-General William Frederick Cavaye (1845-1926), British military officer and politician, lived at no 40^[3]
• David Frost, British journalist and broadcaster, lived there in the late 1960s^[4]
• John Lehmann (1907-1987) was an English poet and man of letters, lived at no 31 from 1945^[5]
• Lucas Malet, pseudonym of Mary St Leger Kingsley (1852-1931), novelist, lived at no 27 in 1902 (at least)^[6]
• Tony Richardson (1928-1991), English theatre and film director^[7]
• Jim Sharman (born 1945), Australian theatre and film director^[7]
• Michael White (born 1936), British theatrical impresario and film producer, who bought the house from Richardson^[7]

References

1. Neate, Rupert (28 December 2013). "Welcome to Egerton Crescent, Britain's most expensive street". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
2. Hutchison, Clare (11 December 2015). "Kensington and Chelsea home to 12 of the top 20 most expensive streets in England and Wales". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
3. The Marquis of Ruvigny and Ranieval (1 May 2013). The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Mortimer-Percy Volume. Heritage Books. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-7884-1872-3.
4. Neil Hegarty (10 September 2015). Frost: That Was The Life That Was: The Authorised Biography. Ebury Publishing. pp. 114–115. ISBN 978-0-7535-5158-5. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
5. Adrian Wright (1998). John Lehmann: a pagan adventure. Duckworth. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-7156-2871-3.
6. Jennifer Cognard-Black; Elizabeth MacLeod Walls (15 June 2006). Kindred Hands: Letters on Writing by British and American Women Authors, 1865-1935. University of Iowa Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN 978-1-58729-662-8. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
7. Jim Sharman (2008). Blood & Tinsel: A Memoir. The Miegunyah Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-522-85377-3. Retrieved 12 December 2015.