Prince of Wales Drive, London

Prince of Wales Drive is located in Battersea, in the London borough of Wandsworth. The drive is situated on the southern perimeter of Battersea Park.

The southern side of Prince of Wales Drive is lined with late-Victorian mansion blocks and villas. When moving east from Battersea Bridge Road to Queenstown Road, the building order is as follows:

In 1846, The Commission for Improving the Metropolis, acquired 320 acres of Battersea Fields, of which 198 acres became Battersea Park, and the remainder was to be let on building leases - the area now covered by Prince of Wales Drive, which was previously known as Prince of Wales Road, was part of Battersea Fields.

The original idea was for Battersea Park to be surrounded by middle-class villas, as seen in other contemporary parks in Britain. Land was allocated for building, but nothing was built for about 30 years. One villa, Carlton Lodge, was built in 1884.

In the 1890s Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea, began to acquire vacant land on the south side of Prince of Wales Drive from the Commissioners for Development. His first mansion block to be developed along Prince of Wales Drive was Overstrand Mansions, which was begun on 11 January 1893. In 1894, most of the other mansions blocks were begun by Cyril Flower, Cyril Mansions was started on 26 April, Norfolk Mansions was started on 27 October, and both Sidestrand Mansions (now Park Mansions) and Primrose Mansions in November. These blocks were under construction, by different builders, at much of the same time, and are of an architecture style inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement. The leases for these buildings were taken up with enthusiasm when built.

The names of these five mansion blocks were selected by Cyril Flower, and his wife Constance. Sidestrand Mansions (now Park Mansions), Norfolk Mansions and Overstrand Mansions were named after "Poppyland", which was popularised by Clement Scott, the theatre critic for the Daily Telegraph. "Poppyland" was a fashionable holiday destination during this time, and the names would have appealed to the first residents of Prince of Wales Drive. Cyril Mansions was named by Cyril Flower after himself, and Primrose Mansions was named after Constance's Rothschild cousin, Hannah, who was married to Archibald Primrose, Earl of Rosebery (Rosebery Villa abuts Primrose Mansions on Alexandra Road).

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