Queen's Gate Living
Queen's Gate Terrace
Queen’s Gate Terrace runs from Gloucester Road to Queen’s Gate. It is a through road, wide enough for cars to be parked outside houses on both sides, and for one line of cars in the middle. It is exclusively residential.
Visually it is almost one long expanse of Victorian stuccoed buildings on either side of the street almost as far as the eye can see. In the absence of any other intruding features, your attention is immediately drawn to the struggle between white- or cream-coloured stucco for dominance.
The buildings themselves follow a traditional pattern for this part of London. The houses were built with basements. The ground floor has porticoes like Greek temples over the entrances, sometimes in pairs so that two entrances share three columns. A grand first floor boasts main windows in a set of three like the end view of a cathedral. Upper floors are progressively less ornate until you reach an elaborate cornice which unifies the appearance of the terrace. There may be a final floor with smaller windows below the roof balustrade, and sometimes even a further floor with windows peering out of the side of the roof. All houses have balconies. Balconies at first floor are universal and make use of a balustrade which like the cornice runs along the whole terrace. Some properties have individual balconies outside second floor windows as well.
In Queen’s Gate Mews, just off the north side of the street, there is a charming little pub called the Queen’s Arms.
Due to its width and length (and absence of trees) the road feels particularly spacious and light. The road looks east towards Imperial College which can probably be seen from upper floors.
