Belgravia Living
Belgravia property
Here are some of the most important issues relating to Belgravia property.
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Belgravia property building boomBelgravia property, with its streets and squares of imposing period houses, looks like it has been London’s residential heart forever. But in Jane Austen’s day, this would have been open fields. At the time of the Napoleonic Wars London did not extend out much further than Westminster. It was as the Industrial Revolution gathered steam (literally and metaphorically) in the Victorian 19th century that the residential Belgravia property we see today came into existence. |
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Speculators in Belgravia propertyToday it may seem as if Belgravia residential property was a sure-fire investment. In fact, it was highly speculative. Some builders of Belgravia residential property became rich men. But rather more Belgravia residential property developers were bankrupted. There were frequent booms and busts in the Belgravia residential property market. A builder who had constructed streets of properties on borrowed money went bust when the demand vanished. |
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The estate owners as the winners in Belgravia propertyThe winners were the estate owners. They let the land on ground rents to builders. It was the Belgravia residential property builders who took on all the risk. When, after 50 years or more, the area was clearly established, the leases came to an end, all the Belgravia residential property reverted to the original landowner’s family who became incredibly rich. The Grosvenors, the Portmans and the Cadogans were originally either very minor nobility or just people who happened to own farm land in the right place at the right time.
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Railways as the engine for growth in Belgravia propertyThe construction of residential property west of Hyde Park or north of Oxford Street was considered highly dubious and speculative in the early 19th century because of the distance on foot from what was then Central London (the City and Westminster). It was the introduction of trains which allowed for the expansion of residential London. Belgravia residential property was not always a financial gold mine. Many of the builders who constructed Belgravia residential property bet their shirts and lost everything when periodic collapses in the Belgravia residential property market occurred. |
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Much Belgravia property is still leaseholdMany of the original estates have almost vanished from memory because they were sold off piecemeal. The Grosvenors and the Cadogans were more longsighted and even today maintain close control over their Central London estates. Some Belgravia residential property in an original estate area may be leasehold. If you buy leasehold Belgravia property, recent legislation means you are entitled to extend your lease (for a price) and all the flat owners in a Belgravia residential property can club together to buy the freehold. Nonetheless, in many Belgravia residential property areas the estates still control the appearance of the streets, generally enforcing uniformity of paint colour.
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Basic designs for Belgravia property developmentMost Victorian street developments of Belgravia residential property followed a similar pattern. Houses were built in rows, along streets or round specially constructed squares. A Belgravia residential property might have a small front area, but not a considerable front garden. Most squares of Belgravia residential property were constructed with the houses grouped round it and facing onto it. But later Victorian developers, constructed estates of Belgravia residential property with “hidden gardens” between the backs of the houses and to which the houses had rear access. |
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Facades of Belgravia propertyGenerally all the attention went into the front façade of Belgravia property, with elaborate cornices and window decoration. The back of a Belgravia residential property was generally left as bare brick and barely decorated. This changed as the focus moved to gardens behind the properties in late Victorian times and then Belgravia residential property came to acquire similarly elaborate back facades. |
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Belgravia property was built with mews for stablingIn Victorian England transport was by horse and cab and richer families had their own stables. Just as a modern development would not be complete without a row of private garages tucked away at the back, so Victorian development had mews properties in small rows behind the grander streets where the horses were kept, and where the stable hands lived in rooms above. This type of Belgravia residential property has now almost all been converted to individual homes. |
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Maintaining and altering Belgravia propertyA lot of Belgravia residential property is considered historic or of architectural importance and, as a result, is listed. If a Belgravia residential property is Grade I then even internal redecoration may require detailed supervision by the Council and English Heritage of materials and work. Most listed Belgravia is Grade II which means approval is needed for any alterations. Doing works to a listed Belgravia residential property without such approval is a criminal offence. Planning permission is needed for any external alterations (mansard roofs, altering windows, adding extensions) to a Belgravia residential property (even if it isn't listed) but not for most internal works. For Belgravia residential property which isn't listed at all, then you may still need building regulation consent - approval by the local council building surveyor that the works meet the necessary building standards - for most types of work beyond the purely cosmetic to Belgravia property. |
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Belgravia property in the 21st centuryThere are three general categories of Belgravia residential property today. Most mews have been converted to houses. Then there has been new Belgravia residential property built in the last two decades, often in private 'gated' developments. This type of Belgravia residential property development relies on the continuing popularity of mews houses to some extent. Both these types provide Belgravia residential property of a size suitable for today's small families. Some original Victorian Belgravia property, originally built to be opulent houses, have survived as houses till the 21st century precisely because they were always the grandest houses from the start. Such Belgravia residential property is likely to be fairly enormous and therefore most suitable to a Middle Eastern prince or a Russian billionaire. Most Belgravia residential property which was constructed as houses has now been converted to flats. |
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