Hans Place

Hans Place is a garden square in central London, immediately south of Harrods in Knightsbridge, SW1. It is named after Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, PRS (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), physician and collector, notable for his bequest, which became the foundation of the British Museum.

Hans Place dates from the 1770s, when the architect Henry Holland leased 89 acres (360,000 m²) from Earl Cadogan and funded the building of his house by laying out a square which he sub-let in building plots. The octagonal shape of the square is thought to have been modelled on the Place Vendôme in Paris. Horwood’s Maps of 1799 and 1813 confirm that, with the exception of Nos. 55–56, all of the lots had been developed by the first edition, and that the final two houses were complete by the second.

The houses were let on 99-year leases, and apart from modernisation from time to time, appear to have remained unchanged during this period. The 1862 Ordnance Survey, for example, shows that none of the houses had been extended over the gardens, and annual directories record good tenancies with no obvious gaps during which major works might have been undertaken. Most of the 18th-century houses in Hans Place were substantially rebuilt by Cadogan Estates when new leases were arranged in the late 19th century, adopting a style that became so closely associated with the district that Osbert Lancaster dubbed it “Pont Street Dutch”.

During World War II, Hans Place received bomb damage and substantial repairs were required to many buildings, and where buildings were not repairable new development took place, particularly on the Pavilion Road side. Numbers 14, 16, 17–22 and 23–27 Hans Place are all Grade II listed for their architectural merit.

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