Hans Place

Hans Place, London SW1, England, is a prime residential garden square situated immediately south of Harrods in Knightsbridge.

Hans Place dates from the 1770s, when the architect Henry Holland leased 89 acres from Earl Cadogan and funded the building of his house by laying out a square which he sub-let in building plots. (The octagonal shape of the square is thought to have been modelled on the Place Vendôme in Paris). Horwood’s maps of 1799 and 1813 confirm that with the exception of Nos. 55-56, all of the lots had been developed by the first edition, and that the final two houses were complete by the second.

The houses were let on 99-year leases, and apart from assumed modernisation from time to time, appear to have remained unchanged during this period. The 1862 Ordnance Survey, for example, shows that none of the houses had been extended over the gardens, and annual directories record good tenancies with no obvious gaps during which major works might have been undertaken.

Jane Austen resided at 23 Hans Place when she stayed in London during the early 19th Century.

Most of the 18th-century houses in Hans Place were substantially rebuilt by Cadogan Estates when new leases were arranged in the late 19th century; (adopting a style that became so closely associated with the district that Osbert Lancaster dubbed it “Pont Street Dutch”).

22 Hans Place formed the headquarters of the 1921 Irish Treaty delegation. The delegates were Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton, and Michael Collins; Secretary to the delegation was Robert Erskine Childers who was also Robert Barton's cousin and father of the Fourth President of Ireland Erskine Hamilton Childers. Famously, it was at 22 Hans Place that, at 11.15 PM on December 5th 1921, the delegates made the historic decision to recommend the treaty to the Dáil Éireann; the negotiations finally closed with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty at 2.20am on December 6th 1921.

During World War II, Hans Place received bomb damage and substantial repairs were required to many buildings, and where buildings were not repairable new development took place, particularly on the Pavilion Road side.

Hans Place now represents one of the most sought after residential addresses in Knightsbridge. International business executives, and the Super-rich, are particularly attracted to Hans Place because it is the garden square with the closest proximity to Harrods, and the best shopping in Sloane Street, Knightsbridge, and Belgravia.

Hans Place enjoys some of the highest levels of street security in London being situated close to two police facilities serving nearby embassies, luxury hotels, and shopping in Knightsbridge and all of the private security arrangements maintained by, and for, Harrods and its customers.

In the south-east corner at 17 Hans Place is the headmaster's office of Hill House School where HRH Prince Charles and Lily Allen were pupils.

External links

* http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.P.A.140001.html
* http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=28692