Editing Lancaster Gate

{{Short description|Development in Bayswater, London}}
{{for|the London Underground station|Lancaster Gate tube station}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
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|image_caption           = Lancaster Gate, houses 14-26
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[[File:Lancaster Gate ILN 1866. houses were built 1863-7.jpg|thumb|325px|Lancaster Gate in 1866.]]

'''Lancaster Gate''' is a mid-19th century development in the [[Bayswater]] district of [[central London]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/LP2011%20Chapter%202.pdf |title=London's Places |work=[[London Plan]] |publisher=[[Greater London Authority]] |year=2011 |page=46 |format=PDF |access-date=27 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906090756/http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/LP2011%20Chapter%202.pdf |archive-date= 6 September 2015 }}</ref> immediately to the north of [[Kensington Gardens]].

==History==
It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them opening onto a square containing a church. Further terraces back onto the pair overlooking the park and loop around the square. Until 1865 the terraces were known as Upper Hyde Park Gardens, with the name Lancaster Gate limited to the square surrounding the church.<ref name=vch>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22666 |title=Paddington: Bayswater |year=1989 |work=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington |publisher=[[British History Online]]|pages=204–212 |access-date=13 March 2010}}</ref> The development takes its name from Lancaster Gate, a nearby entrance to Kensington Gardens, itself named in honour of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] as [[Duke of Lancaster]].<ref name="hidden">{{cite web |url=http://www.hidden-london.com/lancastergate.html |title=Lancaster Gate |work=Hidden London |publisher=Chambers |access-date=13 March 2010}}</ref>

The terraces are [[stucco]]ed and are in an eclectic classical style featuring [[English Baroque]] details and French touches.<ref name=vch/> The church, known as Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, was an asymmetrical gothic composition with a needle spire. The architects were F. & H. Francis. The church was one of the best-known in London, but when dry rot was discovered in the roof the decision was taken to demolish most of the building and redevelop the site.<ref>Donald Wintersgill, "Change and decay is undermining the very cornerstones of faith", ''The Guardian'', 15 August 1977, p. 11.</ref> The last service in the church was on 6 March 1977,<ref>''The Guardian'', 7 March 1977, p. 4.</ref> and demolition began on 15 August 1977; only the tower and spire survive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22674 |title=Paddington: Churches |year=1989 |work=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington |publisher=[[British History Online]]|pages=252–259 |access-date=13 March 2010}}</ref> The rest of the building was replaced by a housing scheme called Spire House in 1983.<ref name=vch/>

Lancaster Gate stands alongside [[Hyde Park Gardens]] as one of the two grandest of the 19th-century housing schemes lining the northern side of [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] and Kensington Gardens. 

The development was planned in 1856–57 on the site of a nursery and tea gardens, and construction took at least 10 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45230 |title=Notting Hill and Bayswater |first=Edward |last=Walford |year=1878 |work=Old and New London: Volume 5 |publisher=[[British History Online]] |pages=177–188 |access-date=13 March 2010 }}</ref> The terraces overlooking the park were designed by [[Sancton Wood]] and those around the square by John Johnson.<ref name=vch/> The exteriors are largely complete, with just a couple of 20th-century infills, but many of the interiors have been reconstructed behind the facades. Many of the properties are still in residential use and command very high prices. Others are used as [[Embassy|embassies]] (such as the [[Embassy of Costa Rica, London|Embassy of Costa Rica]]), [[office]]s, or [[hotel]]s. For many years, the headquarters of [[The Football Association]] were located in Lancaster Gate and the term was often used as a [[metonymy|metonym]] for the organisation, but it later relocated to [[Soho Square]] and is now based at [[Wembley Stadium]].<ref name="hidden"/> [[Royal Lancaster Hotel]], opposite the Italian Gardens of Hyde Park, was built in 1967.<ref name="TW">{{cite web|url=https://www.travelweekly.com/Hotels/London/Royal-Lancaster-London-p51657792|title=Royal Lancaster London|publisher=Travel Weekly|accessdate=26 March 2025}}</ref>

Lancaster Gate is also an electoral ward of [[Westminster City Council]]. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,195.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=13689145&c=Lancaster+Gate&d=14&e=62&g=6340288&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&o=362&m=0&r=1&s=1476554685520&enc=1|title=City of Westminster Ward population 2011|access-date=15 October 2011|publisher=Office for National Statistics |work=Neighbourhood Statistics}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center" widths="250px" heights="225px">
File:Paddington Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg|A map showing the Lancaster Gate wards of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Paddington]] as they appeared in 1916.
File:Lancaster Gate 2.jpg|The Lancaster Gate of [[Kensington Gardens]]
File:Spire House (formerly Christ Church, Lancaster Gate) front (= South face).jpg|South face of Spire House (formerly Christ Church, Lancaster Gate)
File:London - Lancaster Gate - View South on Spire House 1983 (former Christ Church).jpg|Spire House
File:London - Lancaster Gate - View North on statue & former Christ Church Spire.jpg|Memorial to [[Reginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath]] (South face), artist [[Joseph Hermon Cawthra]], (Spire House in background)
File:Brabazon memorial Lancaster Gate, portrait and main inscription.jpg|Meath memorial, detail of [[Relief|bas-relief]] [[portrait]] and main inscription
File:Back (North side) of Brabazon memorial, Lancaster Gate.jpg|Back (North face) of Meath memorial, showing view of Kensington Gardens to the south
File:Brabazon (Meath) memorial, Lancaster Gate, West face.jpg|West face of Meath memorial (viewer facing east).Inscription reads "Duty, Sympathy, Self-Sacrifice"</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Craven Hill Gardens]]
*[[Douglas House, Westminster|Douglas House]]
*[[Lancaster Gate tube station]]
*[[Leinster Gardens]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
*Cherry, Bridget and [[Nikolaus Pevsner|Pevsner, Nikolaus]] (1999) ''The Buildings of England. London 3: North West'' London: Penguin {{ISBN|0-14-071048-5}}

== External links ==
*{{commonscat-inline|Lancaster Gate, London}}

[[Category:Housing in London]]
[[Category:Streets in the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:Bayswater]]