Fake house fronts, I never knew this before...

[stuartmoss]

Article linked here: http://150greatthingsabouttheunderground.com/2012/09/08/48-the-houses-in-leinster-gardens/

48. The ‘houses’ in Leinster Gardens

Take a good look at the photo above. Does anything seem unusual about the house on the right, 23 Leinster Gardens, compared to the one on the left, number 22?

Something definitely looks a bit odd about the windows in number 23:

And the front door appears a bit suspect as well:

This isn’t like the door of 10 Downing Street, which can only be opened from the inside.

This is a door through which, to paraphrase Flanders and Swann, no-one departs and no-one arrives. For this door belongs to a house that does not exist.

Like Dolly Parton, Blackpool and extreme political organisations of both left and right, it is all front. And the reason is the London Underground – or, as it would have been pronounced when this elaborate facade was constructed, London’s Under-Ground.

The trains that first ran along the railway line that passes below Leinster Gardens were steam-powered. The locomotives needed somewhere to vent the fumes that built up inside the engines. But where to do this, in a neighbourhood jostling with upmarket residences for whom a large gap in the ground would appear both unsightly and undignified?

The answer, as with most tricks of the eye, can be found round the back.

Number 23 Leinster Gardens, and also its neighbour number 24, were erected as frontispieces, not houses. (read more)

 

[transportphoto]

Article linked here: http://150greatthingsabouttheunderground.com/2012/09/08/48-the-houses-in-leinster-gardens/

Interesting, didn't pick up the difference between the two straight away, but didn't take long. That's certainly a marvel of British idea! I like!

TP

 

[wintonian]

I believe the residents at the time weren't overly impressed with this dirty new fangled railway going down the middle of their road and all the steam associated with it.

 

[district]

Apparently a scam was performed using that address in which tickets were sold for a ball at this address. Obviously, when people arrived and realised that not only there wasn't a ball but also nowhere for it to be held!

 

[swj99]

HOAXED!

A famous hoax in the 1930s saw a cheeky fraudster make a small fortune by selling 10 guinea tickets for a charity ball at Leinster Gardens.

It was only when the excited guests - in full evening dress - knocked on the fake door they realised they'd been ripped off!

http://www.urban75.org/london/leinster.html

http://www.urban75.org/blog/the-fake-houses-at-23-and-24-leinster-gardens-bayswater-london-w2/

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I visited there once after finding out about it. It was there to make it look like a railway wasn't there as the cutting is to release steam so it didn't build up in the tunnels many years ago. Impressive idea though

 

[Murph]

The New York Subway has a very similar fake townhouse as well (but it is also an emergency exit, as well as a vent):

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2010/04/13/brooklyn_heights_townhouse_is_actually_a_decoy.php

 

[LE Greys]

Fascinating! I've just had a look at it in overhead imagery (I suggest you zoom out from the central point to see how well it blends in). I've been through there a few times, and it just looks like many of the other open sections, a big brick-lined hole in the roof (as much as you can see it) but I've certainly never seen it from above.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=23+Leinster+Gardens,+London&hl=en&ll=51.512599,-0.18397&spn=0.000486,0.001321&sll=51.513179,-0.183973&sspn=0.001943,0.005284&oq=23+Leinster+Gardens,+London&t=h&hnear=23+Leinster+Gardens,+London+W2+3AN,+United+Kingdom&z=20

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Given the lack of steam needing venting these days and the pressures pon property I am somewhat surprised that nobody has built a "raft" and put actual houses there by now!

 

[wintonian]

Given the lack of steam needing venting these days and the pressures pon property I am somewhat surprised that nobody has built a "raft" and put actual houses there by now!

I was going to suggest they may be a listed building, but then that doesn't really work if you just put in the rest of the building where most people think it is anyway.

 

[JoeGJ1984]

Fascinating! I've just had a look at it in overhead imagery (I suggest you zoom out from the central point to see how well it blends in). I've been through there a few times, and it just looks like many of the other open sections, a big brick-lined hole in the roof (as much as you can see it) but I've certainly never seen it from above.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=23+Leinster+Gardens,+London&hl=en&ll=51.512599,-0.18397&spn=0.000486,0.001321&sll=51.513179,-0.183973&sspn=0.001943,0.005284&oq=23+Leinster+Gardens,+London&t=h&hnear=23+Leinster+Gardens,+London+W2+3AN,+United+Kingdom&z=20

Where does the railway actually run in relation to the picture in the above link? It seems to be a long way away from Bayswater and Queensway stations (a couple of streets away to the west).

 

[hilly]

Where does the railway actually run in relation to the picture in the above link? It seems to be a long way away from Bayswater and Queensway stations (a couple of streets away to the west).

Draw a line from bayswater to Paddington and it pretty much crosses Leinster gardens at the relevant point. Queensway is central line

 

[musicking1306]

I was going to suggest they may be a listed building, but then that doesn't really work if you just put in the rest of the building where most people think it is anyway.

Would you also like to live right above the Circle and District lines and every night have the rumble of a train passing every 2 mins. I would also imagine that the value of the property that could be their would be rather less to those in the surrounding area.

 

[LE Greys]

Where does the railway actually run in relation to the picture in the above link? It seems to be a long way away from Bayswater and Queensway stations (a couple of streets away to the west).

I think it passes under the houses on the other side of the road, goes up Craven Hill Gardens for a short way, then along the south side of Craven Road and Praed Street. After Paddington station, it continues along the south side of Praed Street until it reaches Edgware Road. Going the other way, it just cuts under all the houses to Bayswater.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

None of which seem to have lost value as a result of being above the line have they?

 

[tigerroar]

I thought the railway, especially cut and cover was built under roads. Surely these properties were in place when the line was built (where it cuts under housing).

 

[wintonian]

I thought the railway, especially cut and cover was built under roads. Surely these properties were in place when the line was built (where it cuts under housing).

I think they were, just that the 2 dwellings in question were demolished and then had their frontages rebuilt.

 

[tigerroar]

Yeah but the line in that area between Bayswater and NHG appears to go under houses (unless I'm wrong)

 

[Tiny Tim]

The original cut and cover Underground doesn't go under houses, excepting in a few places where it goes into a real tunnel. Attempts to drive sub-surface lines under housing had resulted in the properties falling down.

The residents of Leinster Gardens were lucky; being posh they got a facade put up to hide the horrid new railway. In poorer areas houses were just knocked down.

 

[JohnB57]

Can't see the residents either side being over chuffed with it - pun entirely deliberate.

I know this thread is a couple of weeks old now but if anyone is interested and hasn't already seen it, this is a shot from Panoramio taken from Porchester Terrace to the rear of the "building".