Notting Hill
Ladbroke Road
The construction of Ladbroke Road was part of the earliest development on the Ladbroke estate. Nos. 1-55 (odd) is a long range of narrow-fronted houses on the south side, from Pembridge Road almost to Ladbroke Terrace. Felix Ladbroke granted William Chadwick leases of Nos. 1-11 in 1847-48. Nos. 9 and 11 are a pair of large houses with an elaborate cornice supported by brackets, and stucco and pilasters for decoration.
Chadwick later bought the freehold of this area. In 1848, he granted leases of Nos. 13-19 to George Stephenson, a builder. From 1853 his son, W W Chadwick, leased Nos. 21-55 to William Wheeler. These were three-storey houses without basements.
On the opposite side of the road, there are only Nos. 14-18, and these were also taken by Chadwick between 1843 to 1848, under leases from Felix Ladbroke. No. 14 is a larger detached house, on a 75-foot frontage . The central part of the structure is three storeys high and topped with a dramatic pediment. It has wings on either side which are two storeys high. Nos. 16 and 18 are a pair on two storeys, with a semi-basements. The central section has one large window on each floor and sports a large cornice on brackets.. The ground-floor windows are pedimented. The entrances are on the outer sides, which are slightly lower and set back from the central section. The windows above each door have round heads.
Ladbroke Road houses begin again on the west of Ladbroke Grove. Again, there are only a few on the north side. William Drew was involved in all of them. He arranged for J W Ladbroke to grant a lease of No. 64 to Major G F Penley, and in 1845 he arranged for Nos. 80-86 to be leased to Thomas Allason, Ladbroke’s surveyor. The houses are built as pairs with three storeys and basements. They are brick faced but, for decoration, have pilasters from ground floor to roof where there is an entablature and a parapet. The effect is dramatic but the plain flat pilasters are “stage” pilasters, little more than plaster strips, for decorative effect. The houses share a central porch for their entrance doors.
Drew himself took Nos. 66-72 himself in 1845. On the south side, he had already taken the entire terrace from 109-119 in 1841 to construct himself. These have a Drew’s characteristic design of decorative pilaster-like stucco strips running from the ground floor to the roof line.
