Chester Square

Coordinates: 51°29′43″N 0°8′59″W / 51.49528°N 0.14972°W

Chester Square

St. Michael's Church, Chester Square

Chester Square is a small residential garden square located in London's Belgravia district. Along with its sister squares Belgrave Square and Eaton Square, it is one of the three garden squares built by the Grosvenor family when they developed the main part of Belgravia in the 19th century. Chester Square is named after the city of Chester, near to which Eaton Hall – the ancestral home of the Grosvenor family – is situated.^[1]

The property at 32, Chester Square, is used as a filming location for the music video of the Morrissey song "Suedehead".

1–13 and 14–23, 24–32, 37–39, 42–45, 45a, 45b, 65–76 and 77–80, 80a, and 84–88 Chester Square and the Mews Arch are all listed Grade II for their architectural merit.^{[2][2][2][2][2][2][2][2]}

The gardens are Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. They are not open to the public.^[3][4]

St. Michael's Church

The Anglican Church of Saint Michael in Chester Square was built in 1844 along with the rest of the square, and consecrated two years later. The Ecclesiologist magazine criticised the opening, saying it was "an attempt - but happily a most unsuccessful one - to find a Protestant development of the Christian styles". The church is in the late Decorated Gothic style, with an exterior of Kentish Ragstone. The architect was Thomas Cundy the younger.^[5]

Notable residents

• Roman Abramovich, Russian oligarch, second-richest person in the United Kingdom and owner of Chelsea FC
• Matthew Arnold, poet and critic
• Tony Curtis, actor, had a house when he was filming The Persuaders!
• Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews, film director and his actress wife, lived here for a few years in the early 1970s after their departure from Hollywood
• George II, King of the Hellenes, bought a lease on a house at No. 45 shortly before his return to Greece in 1946
• Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, pop musicians, lived here in 1966-67^[6]
• Nigella Lawson, celebrity chef and food writer; daughter of Conservative former Cabinet Minister, Lord Lawson
• Sir John Liddell, physician and director-general of the Royal Navy medical department, lived at No. 72 until his death in 1868
• Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, American-born violinist and conductor
• Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, lived at No. 24 from 1846 until her death in 1851
• Margaret Thatcher, former British Conservative Prime Minister, lived at No. 73 until shortly before her death in 2013
• Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, had her headquarters at No. 77 during World War II
• Major Conrad Norman, Senior Gunnery Officer Royal Artillery Woolwich, Dunkirk survivor, officer in charge of British coastal gun emplacements in WW2, lived at No. 56 from 1946 until 1951

The Reverend Canon W H Elliott, a broadcaster on religious matters for the BBC, and known as "the Radio Chaplain", was vicar of St Michael's in the mid-20th century.^[7]

References

1. Walford, Edward (1878). 'The western suburbs: Belgravia', Old and New London. pp. 1–14. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
2. Historic England, "1–13 Chester Square (1357284)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 15 February 2016
3. "Chester Square". London Gardens Online. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
4. Historic England, "Chester Square (1001675)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 16 February 2016
5. Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert. The London Encyclopaedia (1992 ed.). Macmillan. p. 770. ISBN 0-333-57688-8.
6. Faithfull, Marianne (1995). Faithfull. Penguin. p. 182. ISBN 0-14-024653-3.
7. Wilson, Alyson. "Church History & Guide" (PDF). Retrieved 25 July 2014.