St Johns Wood Surveyors
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St Johns Wood Building Surveys
We not only identify any property issues we give solutions and anticipated costs too
Independent St Johns Wood Surveyors
Local knowledge and experience from impartial building surveyors we have your interests at heart
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Why a building survey from St Johns Wood Surveyors is the best survey money can buy
Plain English Surveys – jargon free, easy to read surveys
Good, Bad, Ugly Executive Summaries – detailed to ensure you understand any property issues
Aerial view – 360 photos – numerous survey photos identify any problem areas
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Latest surveying equipment – all our St Johns Wood Surveyors are equipped with the latest surveying equipment
Highly qualified and knowledgeable – all our St Johns Wood Surveyors are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
St Johns Wood
Where is St John’s Wood?
In the London Borough of Westminster at the north-west side of Regent’s Park is the sought after area of St John’s Wood. The area is home to Lord’s Cricket Ground and famous too for the Abbey Road recording studios where The Beatles recorded albums in the past.
The area of St John’s Wood is noted for its stunning Victorian villas and gardens with high walls home to wealthy professionals and several celebrities who enjoy the tranquil village atmosphere.
A brief history of St John’s Wood
The area of St John’s Wood, London was in the past part of the Great Middlesex forest. The region was named St John’s Wood due to the land at the end of the 13th century being home to the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.
The Earl of Chesterfield owned the land until selling it to a London wine merchant, Henry Samuel Eyre in 1732. The area was at first slow to develop however the Eyre’s keen to gain revenue from the area commissioned a plan in 1794 for the area of St John’s Wood to be developed in a similar style to the spa town of Bath. However, the Eyre’s plan was thwarted due to the recession in the times of the Napoleonic Wars.
The earlier royal hunting ground of Marylebone Park and farmland to the south of the Eyre’s estate had been leased to the dukes of Portland. Regent’s Park was later formed from most of the land however the northern spot was developed as Portland Town in the early 19th century providing housing for the working classes.
Lord’s Cricket Ground
In the early 19th century Lord’s cricket ground moved to its current site in St John’s Wood Road. Thomas Lord had originally formed a cricket club at Dorset Fields (now Dorset Square) but with his lease expiring and increasing rents he looked to the Eyre estate establishing in 1809 Lord’s Cricket Ground. The Cricket Ground was to have two locations prior to establishing in St John’s Wood Road with one move due to Regent’s Canal being planned cutting straight across the ground!
St John’s Wood architecture
The area of St John’s Wood or rather what was known then as Portland Town developed further in the 1820s when the Eyre’s constructed roads and in the 1840s when construction contracts were granted. High standards of construction were necessary as the occupiers were wealthy bankers and merchants with servants quarters required too. Mews houses were developed to accommodate the overflow of servants who worked in the large houses. Building styles in later phases were not so select particularly in the west region.
In the late 1890s the area of Portland Town was redeveloped with a mixture of mansion blocks, institutional buildings as well as High Street shopping parades. Later in the 1930s several of the early Victorian houses were replaced with mansion blocks of private flats.
The Second World War brought more change to St John’s Wood with a period after WWII of building by local authorities expanding building particularly in the north and west of the area.
Notable Roads in St John’s Wood
St John’s Wood Park
From the junction of Ordnance Hill and Queen’s Grove St John’s Wood Park lays northwards to Adelaide Road, which developed by architect William Holme Twentyman on behalf of the Eyre’s in the 1800s. St John’s Wood Park consisted of large detached Regents Villas, which attracted the wealthy who also had several servants helping in the large St John’s Wood Park properties. There were once some ornamental gates across St John’s Wood Park with stuccoed piers at the Swiss Cottage end of the road.
Sadly today many of the large Regents Villas in St John’s Wood Park have not survived being replaced with 1930s flats. After the area suffered war damage during World War Two redevelopment of the area included some large houses and large semi-detached houses.
Abbey Road, St John’s Wood
From Grove End Road to the south and Quex Road to the north Abbey Road, St John’s Wood is mostly associated with The Beatles as they recorded at The Abbey Road Studios and are featured on the iconic Abbey Road album cover crossing the road zebra crossing. The crossing is Grade II listed gaining this recognition in 2010.
Abbey Road can be traced back to a track leading to Kilburn Priory and its related Abbey Farm being developed in the early 1800s.
In a Baptist church on Abbey Road in 1874 The Abbey Road and St John’s Wood Permanent Benefit Building Society was founded later known at The Abbey National Building Society then renamed under parent brand Santander UK.
Acacia Road – The First Cabbie Shelter 1875
The iconic London cabbie green huts came into existence with the first being erected in Acacia Road, St John’s Wood in 1875. The green garden-shed looking buildings provided London cabbies with a place to rest and purchase an inexpensive meal and by 1914 there were a total of sixty one shelters. Today the green cabbie shelters are all Grade II listed buildings run by tenants of The Cabmen’s Shelter Fund who maintain the shelters.