Earls Court
Cathcart Road
Cathcart Road is a mixture of old and relatively new houses.
Corbett and McClymont built Nos. 1-7 in about 1864 on land bought from S R Lewin (their solicitor) in April 1864. This was one of the rare occasions of Corbett and McClymont actually acquiring the freehold of the land they were to develop. No. 1 was built on the corner with Redcliffe Road. (No. 1 was rebuilt in 1951-2 to designs by R Pollock, architect).
Corbett and McClymont were just able to squeeze in Nos. 3, 5 and 7 (odd) Cathcart Road on three very shallow plots behind Symour Walk. Corbett House, the large property between No. 7 and Hollywood Road was built in 1949-51 by the architect G Jeeves and replaced Nos. 9-15 (odd) which Corbett and McClymont had built on the site.
On the other side of Hollywood Road, Nos. 27-49 (odd) were leased by Corbett and McClymont in 1866 from James Gunter II. (No 27 included No. 16 Hollywood Road.) That took their development as far west as Redcliffe Gardens. The next year, 1867, they leased the site for Nos. 51-59 (odd) which were to be the houses between Redcliffe Gardens and Finborough Road. But in this case the freeholder was not the Gunters, but R.J. Pettiward who had retained the freehold of that area.
On the north side of the road, most of the eastern houses are post-War. Their construction dates and architects are as follows: No. 10 (where the numbering starts) 1953-4 (Neville Conder of Casson Conder Partnership); No. 12 1956-7 (Wallis, Gilbert and Partners) with additions in 1959 (Anthony Mauduit); No. 18 1961 ( W. Paton Orr and Partner) with an addition in 1972-3 (Nerios Consultants Group); No. 20 1972-5 (C J G Guest); No. 22 1930 (C. D. St. Leger) with an addition c. 1950 (John Ware); and No. 24 1959-61 (Sir Hugh Casson of Casson Conder Partnership).
The rest of the street west was part of the original development of the area. Nos. 26-42 (even) were constructed by Corbett and McClymont in 1864-5. Nos. 44-52 (even) were built by George Smith in 1865-6 but Corbett and McClymont were a party to James Gunter’s lease to him so it must have been an agreed sub-contracting of some of the construction work. The same happened with Nos. 60-66 which were leased to Smith in the same way and also in 1865-6. (Nos. 54-58 (even) were constructed in 1953-4 to designs by the architect R. Pollock.)
The numbering now jumps to Nos. 72-82 (even). These are in the area which R J Pettiward owned between Redcliffe Gardens and Finborough Road and he leased the site to Corbett and McClymont who built the houses there in 1866-7.
