Kensington
Iverna Court
Iverna Court runs west of Wrights Lane and consists of large red-brick Edwardian mansion blocks, mostly eight storeys high.
There is a small central private garden and the square is dominated by some very tall mature trees and the unusually designed St Sarkis Armenian Church, which has a lovely central rounded tower.
From the 1680’s Kensington – then just a village a couple of miles out of London - was briefly fashionable while King William and Queen Mary lived at Kensington Palace during the Winter months, to escape the unhealthy air of Westminster. Francis Barry, one of the king’s entourage, owned land here and a number of houses were built in the 1690’s. The street was known as ‘The Terrace’.
When the leases for these houses ran out in 1893, Jubal Webb bought the land from the freehold owners for development. Webb was a cheese monger. He exhibited the world’s largest cheese at the Chicago World Fair in 1893 and his address for telegraphs was ‘Gorgonzola London’.
Iverna Gardens were the first properties to be built on his land. They were constructed as blocks of flats grouped round a square.
In 1898 work began on blocks adjoining the square, which were later named Iverna Court. Jubal Webb had entered into building agreements with two speculative builders, Henry Metcalfe and Thomas Greig, for the development of this land. In order to persuade the London County Council to approve their plans, Metcalfe and Greig assured them that ‘there is not the slightest vestige of possibility of their ever becoming tenanted by artisans or working classes.’ Metcalfe and Greig employed R. Hockley and Son, builders, to construct the first block in 1898. Another builder, Thomas Boyce, was involved in the building of the later blocks. Between 1900 and 1903 the remaining blocks were completed. The Iverna Court blocks are on six storeys with Queen Anne gables.
