“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date … “ This is the auditorium and stage of Opera Holland Park as it looks in winter.
Here is what the proposed development at the back of my house, beside the Hammersmith flyover, will look like. What’s so scary is that these computer-generated images are supposed to show it in the best possible light.
In the top picture on the left you can see a BP filling station that is behind my house. If this were to be developed, and how much longer can I rely on motorists needing petrol, the north light would be seriously blocked. I’ve been told that Dominvs did try to persuade BP to sell but it transpires it is BP’s most profitable site. OK, I’m an unashamed NIMBY. If this plan goes ahead I hope that a few floors will be lopped off but I also hope that the plan will be pulled if the economic climate in London turns chilly.
In 1998 the In and Out Club moved from Cambridge House on the north side of Piccadilly, where Palmerston once lived, to their current clubhouse on St James’s Square. For twenty years Cambridge House has been empty as plans for it have come and gone. Finally, under the ownership of the rich Reuben Brothers, work has started on its conversion into a high-end hotel. As it is mid 18th century, Palladian, Grade I listed they have to do this sensitively and this is how it should look.
London planners have come a long way since the 1960s when Londonderry House on Park Lane was demolished and became part of the Hilton. Meanwhile back in Hammersmith I must, as so often happens, await events.
Glad to see the site on Piccadilly is finally being “saved.” It was amazing when the Kuwaiti owners (I think it was) pushed the club out. But they (and Astor House) we’re lucky in finding a new site so close by.
Not much to be said about the proposed tower (complete with trendy “green wall,” it appears), except perhaps, “good luck.”