33 Kensington Square
| 33 Kensington Square | |
|
National Trust | |
|---|---|
 33 Kensington Square, Kensington | |
| Grid reference: | TQ256795 |
| Location: | 51°30’2"N, 0°11’28"W |
| Built 1730s | |
| Information | |
33 Kensington Square is a house standing on the west side of Kensington Square in Kensington in Middlesex. It was built in the early 1730s for the music publisher and instrument-maker John Walsh the Elder, who bought the freehold of this and the adjoining sites to the north in 1728. It was the first new house to be built on the west side of the square since No. 32 had been built over twenty years before.
Two years after Walsh had had his new house built, his son built two further houses to the north, paid for by the sale of long leases of the houses.
By 1736, the house was occupied by Robert Austin, a mercer or grocer.
After Walsh's death, No. 33 descended with the rest of his estate in Kensington Square to his son, John Walsh the Younger, and afterwards to another son, Samuel, whose executors sold the house in 1779. Two notable later occupants of No. 33 are the naval surgeon Dr James Veitch, who lived there from 1841 to 1848, and the actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell.
The financier and philanthropist Angus W. Acworth lived in the house from 1927 to 1951 Honorary secretary of the Georgian Group from 1944 to 1958, Acworth played a prominent part in the campaign to preserve Kensington Square from commercial development. In 1952, gave No 33 to the National Trust.
References
- Kensington Square and environs: Individual houses (west side and Derry Street): Survey of London: Volume 42, Kensington Square To Earl's Court; pages 29-40
- 33 Kensington Gardens: British Listed Buidings
