Introduction
Today our “superstars” are athletes, popular musicians, and radio and television personalities. In Victorian England they were writers, painters, and the “smart set” in London. This walk is designed to take you around Chelsea, where many of these individuals lived, much like a tourist bus in Los Angeles takes tourists around to look at the homes of the stars (except you don’t have to pay for this one beyond your time and effort).The origins of the name Chelsea are lost in antiquity, but one theory suggests that the name comes from an Anglo-Saxon word for “gravel bank.” It seems to have begun as a Saxon settlement on the banks of the Thames. It first shows up in an eighth-century charter as well as being mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086).The first arrival of “superstars” occurred in the Tudor era, with the advent of Thomas More, Henry VIII (who acquired the manor of Chelsea in 1537), and Elizabeth I. James I, Elizabeth’s successor, established a theological school, which his grandson, Charles II, turned into a hospital for permanently disabled soldiers. One of the most important figures to come to Chelsea was Sir Hans Sloane, who arrived in 1712. His collection of “botanical, geological, numismatic, antiquarian, medical and literary specimens” later became the nucleus of both the British Museum and the Chelsea Physic Garden.Chelsea was known early as an agrarian community, supplying London with much of its fruits and vegetables during the 1600s. This did not change until the nineteenth century. However, it was also known as the home of the Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens of 1742, followed in turn by more modest-sized tea gardens and pleasure grounds. Six years after the establishment of Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens, one tourist to Chelsea wrote: “On all sides round about Chelsea there is scarcely seen anything else than either orchards or vegetable market gardens, and beautiful houses as it were scattered amongst them . . . The place resembles a town, has a church, beautiful streets, well built and handsome houses of brick, three or four stories high . . .”Because of the expansion outward from Westminster and other parts of London, by the 1830s this essentially rural picture was changing, and currently, practically nothing exists reflecting its rural basis.
#1 Start: South Kensington Tube Station to Fulham Road
Start the walk at the South Kensington tube station. At the top of the stairs, turn left to exit south side of the station. Turn left onto Pelham Street and make your way to Fulham Road and the Michelin House, #81 (at the junction of Fulham Road, Brompton Road, and Sloan Avenue).The Michelin House, constructed in 1910, reflects the early impact of art deco in England. This building was the main office of the Michelin Tyre Company in the UK. (The Brits still use this spelling of our tire, probably because the production of rubber is historically associated with the city of Tyre in biblical Phoenicia.) The Michelin House also functioned as a drive-in tire-fitting garage. Note the suggestion of piled tires on the corners of the building. You are probably familiar with the Michelin Man (a.k.a. Bibendum) from the famous green-covered Michelin Guides. Bibendum’s image was seen on three sides of early models of the Michelin House. On the front, he holds up metal fragments pulled from tires. On another side, he aims a kick at Dunlop, their main competitors. On the third side he rides a bicycle equipped with Michelin tires.In the 1980s, when the building was in danger of being taken down, Sir Terence Conran purchased and renovated it. The building now houses one of London’s upscale restaurants.
#2 Sloane Avenue to King's Road
From the Michelin House, go to Sloane Avenue on the side of the building. Follow the avenue, which turns into Anderson Street, until it intersects with King’s Road.Note the Nell Gwynn House (a block of luxury service apartments) to your left just before you get to King’s Road. This is the same Nell Gwynn that the pub just off Russell Street in the Theatre walk is named after—the actress who became one of Charles II’s thirteen mistresses. She lived in the Fulham area, and Charles created his own private road to visit her.You are now in the heart of the Chelsea shopping center; we will come back later to King’s Road and discuss it at that point.
#3 St. Leonard's Terrace to Royal Avenue
Follow along Walpole Street until you come to St. Leonard’s Terrace. Turn right, and follow St. Leonard’s until you come to Royal Avenue.Number 7 St. Leonard’s Terrace was the home of Sir Laurence Olivier (one of England’s most noted actors in the mid-twentieth century). When you get to Royal Avenue, stop and look to the left. The building you see through the iron fence and across the field is the Royal Hospital, where the famous Chelsea Pensioners live—we will come back to this later in the walk. The field is called Burton’s Court (and because of its location is also called the Army’s Playground). To your right is Royal Avenue—just one short block in length. Initially, William III intended this to be a grand avenue between the Royal Hospital on the south and Kensington Palace on the north. William died before the palace was renovated, and, as mentioned, the avenue only runs for one block—another royal project gone awry. Note the fine Georgian homes that line both sides of the avenue. This is also the fictional address of the famous spy, James Bond 007, created by novelist Ian Fleming. You are now just a short distance southeast of the BYU Centre.
#4 St. Leonard's to Smith Street
Continue along St. Leonard’s Terrace to Smith Street.Number 17 on St. Leonard’s was once the home of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. At the intersection with Smith Street, note the hexagonal mailbox. It has been in constant use since Queen Victoria’s day, as is evident from her insignia VR (Victoria Regina—Victoria the Queen). You have probably already noted that contemporary boxes have the insignia EIIR for Queen Elizabeth II.
#5 Chelsea Bridge Road
Turn left on Smith Street, which becomes Durham Place, and continue until you come to Royal Hospital Road. Turn left onto Royal Hospital, and proceed to Chelsea Bridge Road, and then turn right. You are now moving toward the Thames with the hospital on your right, and you should soon see the Chelsea Bridge in front of you. It was constructed in 1858 and marks the eastern end of the Chelsea Embankment.To your left as you move along Chelsea Bridge Road are some army barracks—these are central London’s main army barracks, and the first of four military sites you will pass in this walk. One-eighth of the population of the borough is estimated to be attached to the army in one way of another. To your immediate right, between you and the hospital, is the famous Ranelagh Gardens, which was the great social gathering place from 1741 to 1805, with its balloon ascents and nightly fireworks displays. A common saying of the time: “You can’t set your foot without treading on a Prince or a Duke,” gives some idea of its reputation. Originally the gardens contained a great rotunda based on the Pantheon in Rome, complete with an organ and an orchestra, with tiers of box seats for people-watchers, who came to observe the smart set promenading, often to musical accompaniment (Mozart entertained here at the age of eight). In the park was an ornamental lake and a Chinese Pavilion. You may know the gardens from Canaletto’s 1751 painting. Today, it is simply another small, but charming park; if you have the time and inclination, go in and rest for a while, but keep in mind that you have much more to see while you are in Chelsea.
#6 Chelsea Embankment
Turn right at the Chelsea Embankment (this is the third of the embankments created in the Victorian age—the Victoria and the Albert embankments on either bank of the Thames being the other two) and proceed toward the entrance of the hospital grounds.Across the Thames you will see the smoke stacks of the old Battersea Power Plant ( a.k.a.the “Cathedral of Power”) sticking into the air, as someone has observed, like the legs of a table. At one time producing 20% of London's power, the plant is currently defunct, and the area is being developed into a housing and retail complex. You may recognize the power plant's distinctive silhouette from the cover of Pink Floyd’s album, Animals (1977 release).Farther along the embankment path, you will see Battersea Park immediately across the Thames, one of London’s major entertainment parks. Battersea was the second of London’s non-royal public parks (Victoria being the first). You may want to go there for a concert or a picnic, or to visit the children’s zoo.
#7 Chelsea Pensioner's Hospital
When you reach the Chelsea Pensioner’s Hospital, turn right through the front gate and make your way toward the hospital. However, for summer 2018, this area is under construction and you will not be able to enter the grounds.In the summer, several of the approximately four hundred retired military men who have come to live at the Chelsea Pensioner's Hospital make their way around or sit on the benches, dressed in the uniform of the Chelsea Pensioners, with their traditional blue uniforms (scarlet on such ceremonial occasions as Oak Apple Day, 29 May) and the tricorns (three corner hats) that date back to the 1700s. Lately, they also make their way around on little motor scooters. The hospital is yet another of the remaining structures of the marvellous architectural legacy of Sir Christopher Wren. The inscription in the Figure Court tells the story: “For the support and relief of maimed and superannuated soldiers.”There are two accounts regarding the origin of the hospital. One (perhaps romanticized) tells of Nell Gwyn’s being approached by a veteran of recent wars who was begging, which account has her taking the problem to Charles II out of sympathy. (England never had a standing army until the Civil War in the mid-1600s, and therefore had never had the problems of having to care for veterans.) The other is that Charles built the hospital in imitation of Louis XIV’s Hôtel des Invalides in Paris (the city in which he lived during his exile from England).As you make your way along the gravelled area toward the hospital, take a close look at the statue of Charles II, who was one of the major moving forces in the Chelsea area. He is dressed in a Roman toga in this statue. During the last week in May, the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show, for professional and amateur gardeners, is held on the playing fields of these grounds (where you entered), and on 29 May (Oak Apple Day), the statue is bedecked with oak leaves, in commemoration of the fact that Charles II hid in an oak (Boscobel Oak) to escape his pursuers after the Battle of Worcester (pronounced "wooster") in 1651. Inside the hospital is a chapel, and the Great Hall used for dining. both open onto the central foyer; go in and take a look. You are also welcome to the Sunday Services, if you can fit them in around your own sacrament service. The schedule is posted on the door leading to the chapel from the back side of the building.
#8 Royal Hospital Road to Tite Street
Make your way to the back side of the hospital and exit the grounds onto Royal Hospital Road—where you began your journey around the hospital. Turn left onto Royal Hospital and proceed to Tite Street. If you cannot enter the hospital, continue along the Chelsea Embankment to Tite Street.On the way toward Tite Street you will pass the National Army Museum on your left. This is a museum centering in the history of Britain’s armies, etc., from the time of Henry VII (1485) to the present, including the Gulf War and Bosnia. It is meant to dovetail with the Imperial War Museum, which has displays from the two World Wars. The Battle of Waterloo is played out here in the National Army Museum in an audio-visual display, complete with dioramas and tableaux. The museum contains a four hundred square foot model of the Battle of Waterloo with seventy-five thousand model soldiers, as well as the skeleton of Napoleon’s horse, Marengo, which he rode at the Battle of Waterloo. The museum’s art gallery contains portraits painted by many of England’s most important painters, including Reynolds and Gainsborough.
#9 Tite Street to Dilke Street
When you arrive at Tite Street, with its red Victorian houses, take a look at some of the homes and then proceed to Dilke Street.Many prominent individuals have lived along Tite Street; for instance, #34 was the residence of Oscar Wilde (some of you have probably read his plays such as the Importance of Being Earnest or some of his other works such as the Picture of Dorian Grey or Salome). This was his home from 1884 until 1895 and all of his greatest works were written here. Two American expatriates also lived on this street: James McNeill Whistler (the famous painter of his mother’s portrait Arrangement in Grey and Black, Number 1), who lived at #35, and John Singer Sargent, one of the most famous portrait painters in England (and elsewhere as well), who lived at #31.
#10 Paradise Walk and Clover Mews
Turn right and walk along Dilke Street.As you go past Paradise Walk and Clover Mews, take a moment to look at the houses. This was once a real slum area, but a group calling themselves the “Sloane Rangers” rejuvenated and occupied the area in the 1980s. Lady Diana is probably the most famous alumna of the group, known for their easily recognizable dress, described as “blue and white pin-striped shirts, cords and brogues [a stout type of shoe] for the men; blond, flick-back hair, pearls, and flat shoes for the women, and waxed cotton Barbour jackets for all.”
#11 Swan Walk
When you come to Swan Walk, turn right.At this intersection, you will see a long wall about eight feet high. Behind it is the private Chelsea Physic (Medicinal) Garden, first laid out in the 1670s by the Apothecaries’ Guild to grow medicinal plants. A shipment of cotton seed (obtained in the South Seas) sent from this garden to Georgia in 1732 provided the beginning of the cotton industry in America. This is also where tea was introduced from China (via India), quinine from South America, and Malaya’s rubber from South America. It also contains the oldest olive tree in England, as well as a statue of Sir Hans Sloane (for whom Sloane Square, etc. is named), who donated the land and a great tea house. Since the opening of the garden to the public in 1983, you can visit and buy plants here (but because of customs you can’t take them back to the States with you) from Tuesdays to Sundays in the afternoon.At the end of Swan Walk, cross Royal Hospital Road, and then turn left. At this point Royal Hospital Road becomes Cheyne Place.
#12 Cheyne Walk to Cheyne Row
When you get to Cheyne Walk, bear right onto Cheyne Walk (not Flood Street), and take time to enjoy the row of fine Georgian houses built in 1720, by walking along Cheyne Walk to Cheyne Row.Cheyne Walk (pronounced chainey) formerly fronted directly onto the Thames until the Chelsea Embankment was built, leaving them farther back from the river. Again, these were once the homes of the rich and famous. Number 3 Cheyne Walk was the home of Keith Richards, guitarist for the Rolling Stones. Number 4 is the house where George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) died in 1880, after three weeks of marriage to an American named John Cross (she is buried in Highgate Cemetery). Number 14 was the home of Bertrand Russell, a famous British mathematician and philosopher (and some-time member of the Bloomsbury Group—see the Bloomsbury/St. Pancras walk), and #16 was the home of Dante Gabriel Rossetti of Pre-Raphaelite fame. A portrait medallion of him by his friend Ford Madox Brown is found on the memorial fountain in the Embankment gardens opposite the house. His backyard was once filled with a menagerie of animals, including a jackass, a Brahma bull, several peacocks, parrots, and owls, as well as a strange group of other animals, including an armadillo, salamanders, and wallabies—his favorites. In some ways, he lead the life of a nineteenth-century hippie. In his later years, he was addicted to a mixture of chloral and whiskey—and not terribly popular with his neighbors. Number 48 was once the home of Mick Jagger during the late 1960s into the 1970s. Cheyne Walk was also the setting of the concluding scene of John Fowles’ novel the French Lieutenant’s Woman. If you haven’t seen the movie version, this was considered one of Meryl Streep’s best performances.When you reach Cheyne Mews, look in the tunnel to the end of the lane. A manor house owned by Henry VIII was once back there—a two-storied Tudor brick mansion. His last queen, Catherine Parr, lived here, as did Prince Edward (VI), Princess Elizabeth I (as a young girl), and Lady Jane Grey, their cousin. Keep in mind that the Thames was once the major highway in London, and Henry could travel to Westminster, etc. quite easily on the river. His chancellor, Thomas More, also lived here in Chelsea, and Henry liked the area so well that he just moved in next door, as it were.Farther along the street is another former home of Bram Stoker, who resided at #26 during the first part of the 1880s. When you get to the intersection of Chelsea Embankment and Oakley Street, take time to note the graceful statue of the Boy and the Dolphin by David Wynne (one of my favorite statues). Captain Falcon Scott, the Antarctic explorer whom we met on the Whitehall Walk, lived at #56 Oakley Street. Take a good look at the Albert Bridge that crosses the Thames here. When this is lighted at night, it is one of the most beautiful sights on the Thames. It is like a smaller version of the San Francisco Gate Bridge, in the sense that it is a true suspension bridge. As such, it has a tendency to vibrate to a steady cadence, and on the entrance to the bridge is a warning: “All troops must break step when marching over this bridge.” The pagoda-like structure across the river in Battersea Park is a Japanese Peace Pagoda, constructed in 1985, by Japanese Buddhists.
#13 Oakley Street and Cheyne Walk
Cross over Oakley Street to where Cheyne Walk continues.When you get to Cheyne Row, go out toward the embankment long enough to examine the statue of Thomas Carlyle (”the sage of Chelsea”), one of the most famous authors and philosophers in the last century. It is thought to be a very good representation of Carlyle.
# 14 Cheyne Row
Turn right onto Cheyne Row.Carlyle House, now number 24 (formerly #5) and residence of Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane, is now a museum. The house is an excellent example of the Victorian era and I would recommend a visit when you have the opportunity. Check online for opening dates and times.Also on Cheyne Row, at #30, was the home of William de Morgan, a noted Victorian maker of tiles, and his wife Evelyn, an eminent Victorian painter. He proposed that all of the buildings in London be covered with tiles, to facilitate their periodic cleaning (and probably to help line his pockets). You will find William de Morgan's work in Lord Leighton's Museum (see the Holland Park walk). In his later life, when his "factory" ran into financial trouble and he had to retire from the tile business, de Morgan turned to writing and became a successful author. (His first novel, Joseph Vance, was written when he was sixty-five.) Note the pub on the other side of the street, the King's Head and Eight Bells, that reaches far back into history and was often frequented by many of the famous men of this neighborhood.
#15 Lawrence Street to Cheyne Walk
Go forward to Upper Cheyne Row, turn left on it, and left again at Lawrence Street. Go back on Lawrence Street to Cheyne Walk.Note the Chelsea China building (designated by a blue plaque) on Upper Cheyne Row. Collecting blue and white china was a favorite pastime of both Whistler and Rossetti. Where Lawrence Street joins Cheyne Walk at the bottom of Lawrence Street, there is an apartment block called Carlyle Mansions. This is where T.S. Eliot lived, and where the novelist Henry James died in 1916.
#16 Chelsea Old Church
Turn right on Cheyne Walk and continue to Chelsea Old Church, the original village church.There is reputed to have been a church on this site as long as Christianity has been in Britain. Sir Thomas More was once Lord of the Manor of Chelsea, and he built the southern part of the Chelsea Old Church (the original part of that church dates back to the twelfth century), where he intended to be buried but, after his execution, was not peacefully laid to rest where he intended. It is possible that his body was brought back here and buried with that of his first wife, Jane; his head, however, is at Canterbury. His original manor was just west of the church, near the site of the present-day Beaufort Street. A statue of More, with gilded face and hands, is out on the embankment side of the church, complete with the epitaph More wrote for himself.The church was heavily damaged during the bombing of World War II, and for nine years services had to be held in one of the wards of an adjoining hospital. By 1958, the church had been rebuilt and reconsecrated. If the church is open, go inside; it has an interesting chapel. It is thought that Henry VIII married Jane Seymour here in a secret wedding some time before the public ceremony. Inside is a statue of a woman in the process of resurrection (one of two I’ve seen so far) and a plaque commemorating Henry James, the American expatriate novelist. Note from the plaque that Henry James gave up his American citizenship to become a British citizen about the time of World War I. There is also a commemorative plaque here for William de Morgan. Near the rear of the chapel, on your left as you exit the church, is the only example of chained books (a tradition going back to the thirteenth century) in a London church. These books are the Vinegar Bible, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, a prayer book, and a book of homilies. It is worth getting inside the church just to view this phenomenon.If you were to continue farther down Cheyne Walk, you would find the places where other famous people lived, including J.M.W. Turner, one of England’s most renowned painters (he has an entire wing of the Tate Gallery dedicated to his work). Turner lived at #118–119 under an assumed pseudonym. William Holman Hunt and William Bell Scott (two other famous Pre-Raphaelite painters, and, in the case of Bell, a poet) also lived farther down the walk: Hunt at #59 and Scott at #92. Neither of these two houses still stands, but the Turner House does. However, instead of going farther along the Thames, which would eventually take you to the little hamlets of Fulham and Hammersmith, turn right on Old Church Street. Before you do, however, take a good look at the next bridge across the Thames. This is the famous Battersea Bridge, built in 1890 and celebrated by Whistler and others in their paintings. Here the Thames turns again to the south.Near Battersea Bridge was the famous Cremorne Gardens (1846–1877), one of the most controversial pleasure parks in London. As one reporter described the activities: “Concerts, dancing, fireworks, marionettes, baloon [sic] ascents, ballets, farces, and equestrian exhibitions are here provided from 3 p.m. until 12 p.m. in amazing variety.” The one activity he does not report was the prostitution that was rampant at Cremorne, eventually leading to its closing.Further down the way, you will come to Chelsea Harbour, home to an upscale mixed-development area which includes a boat marina for luxury yachts.
#17 King's Road
Turn right on Old Church Street and proceed to King’s Road. Turn right on Kings Road, and it will take you back to Sloane Square tube station.However, if you are a fan of Winnie the Pooh, you may want to take a slight detour and cross over Kings Road and turn left off Old Church Street at Mallord Street, where A. A. Milne was living (at #11 and #13) when he wrote Winnie the Pooh.
#18 King's Road to Sloane Tube Station
If you take the detour, go back on your tracks to Kings Road and turn left this time toward the tube station.For those of you interested in theatre history, you might want to make your way in the other direction on King’s Road to Dame Ellen Terry’s former abode at 215 King’s Road. Dame Ellen is Sir John Gielgud’s great aunt and the most famous Victorian actress of the last part of the nineteenth century.King’s Road—whose early claim to fame was that it was the site of the home (#120) of Thomas Crapper, inventor of the water closet—is now one of the enjoyable shopping streets in London, with little arcades and boutiques overflowing with antiques, etc. The famous miniskirt, so dear to the hearts of young women working in the city, was sold first (in England) from some of these boutiques in 1965. During the heyday of the punkers in the 1970s and 80s, many of them left the more famous Carnaby Street in the Mayfair area (see the Mayfair walk) and came to King’s Road to promenade on Saturdays. Punk was born here in 1977 in Vivian Westward’s clothes store, Sex. King’s Road is now a fairly conservative shopping road, but every once in a while, you may still see someone in a time warp, dressed outlandishly with spiked green or scarlet hair.As you approach the Sloane Square station, the Duke of York’s headquarters—your last reminder of the military aspect of the Chelsea area. Built in the eighteenth century by the son of George III as a school for orphaned children of soldiers, it was designed to provide for one thousand orphans—seven hundred boys and three hundred girls. Both genders had been moved elsewhere by 1909, and the facilities are now the headquarters for the Territorial Army, made up, like our National Guard, of volunteers who train here in the evenings or special exercises on weekends, and hold down a regular job through the day.Before you go into the tube station, there's a couple of places to note. Take a good look at the Royal Court Theatre, left of the tube station as you approach it; the site of many of London’s fine avant-garde productions over the years. Some of George Bernard Shaw’s plays, for example, were presented here. It still has productions, and you may just want to come out and see some theatre on the fringe.The second place to visit is also to the left of the station as you stand facing the tube station. This is Holy Trinity Church on Sloane Street. It is sometimes called “the arts-and-crafts church” because it contains the largest stained glass window ever created by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, the two pioneers of the arts and crafts movement in the nineteenth century. This window is worth a visit itself. Holy Trinity is a High Church (of England), and it's sometimes referred to as “smells and bells,” inasmuch as incense is still used in the service and bells are sounded at central points in the mass, just as in the Roman Catholic church. The building is currently open during the day, every day of the week, and well worth a look inside.
#19 The End: Return to the BYU Centre
Return to Sloane Square station, which serves the Circle Line, or finish the walk to Buckingham Palace so that you can see the intended use of King’s Road. To do this, find Cliveden Place (off from Sloane Square) and follow it until it becomes King’s Road again. It will bring you to Hobart Place Road, which turns into Lower Grosvenor Place, which comes into the Royal Mews at Buckingham.
