
23-24 Leinster Gardens, London’s Fake Houses
In the streets close to Bayswater tube station you can admire row upon row of Victorian, stucco terraces. But 23 & 24 Leinster Gardens hold a sneaky surprise. They are London’s fake houses!

History of Leinster Gardens
Leinster Gardens was laid out around 1855 and the whole terrace from no.s 19-48 (including the fake houses!) are Grade II listed.
As we can see from the 1828 C and J Greenwood map below, the whole area was fairly rural before housing started popping up.

However, no sooner had this delightful white terrace appeared, there was a problem.

In 1868 the steam-operated Metropolitan Railway was busy working on a western extension. Ploughing through Bayswater, Notting Hill and Kensington.
Five years earlier, in 1863 the Metropolitan Line between Paddington and Farringdon had become the world’s first urban underground railway.
Forget the underground tunnel boring machines of modern infrastructure, the Victorian method was “cut and cover”. This involved excavated huge trenches (13m deep) through the land, laying tracks and then building brick walls and arches over the top.
You can get an idea of the devastation from this print held in the London Transport Museum Collection. It shows construction work on the Metropolitan Line close to Kings Cross.

You can get an idea of the issues facing the Metropolitan Line by looking at this OS map from the 1890s. I’ve outlined the railways tracks in orange so you can appreciate just how doggedly they plough through the area. I’ve circled the location of no.s 23 and 24 in yellow.

As you can imagine, huge compensation payments were issued for the destruction of properties. However, on Leinster Gardens (as well as a payout) and ingenious solution was found for the disruptive railway.
Not wanting to interrupt the clean lines of the terrace, the Metropolitan Railway simply constructed fake houses.
Facing the street is a thin (only 1.5m thick!) facade that’s hiding in plain sight.

It’s easy to miss the fake houses from Leinster Gardens (the only clue something is awry being the blocked out windows and no letter boxes!)
But if you head around the back to Porchester Terrace, it’s rather more obvious.

Peer over the brick wall and you can appreciate the thin facade, propped up by metal supports.
You can find these gaps periodically popping up along inner London railway lines, allowing ventilation for the steam-powered engines.

Today trains still run along the tracks, now part of the Circle and District lines.

London’s fake houses can be found at 23-24 Leinster Gardens and the gap can be admired at along Porchester Terrace.
A great bit of Victorian problem-solving I say! (But I would also love to know how much was paid for the demolition!)

Latest Blog Posts
Come with me on a special private tour behind the Glass at the Cabinet War Rooms to visit a time capsule from the Second World War......
On the River Thames in Richmond sits an absolute jewel of an historic home, Ham House. I recently managed to visit (having had it on my very long to-do list for a while!) so here is the history and my personal highlights… History of Ham......
Chelsea sometimes gets described as a ‘village’ and if you know where to look you can certainly find some nice historic reminders. If you look up along the King’s Road in Chelsea you can spot some cows heads staring back at you. So what’s the......
It might not have the immediate charm of Soho Square, but Golden Square has a fascinating history (and a good reason for its messy hodge-podge of architectural styles and ages). While walking through on a sunny afternoon I was struck by how many little details......
Within Kensington Garden’s Italian Gardens you can find the monumental Queen Anne’s Alcove. Not only was it designed by Christopher Wren but it has a surprising history! The Italian Gardens were laid out around 1860, spearheaded by Prince Albert. They followed a similar plan for......
It’s no surprise that people fail to appreciate Palladium House. Standing opposite the glorious facade of Liberty’s, the majority of people take photos of that wonderful black and white entrance. Now, this isn’t to say that Liberty doesn’t have its own historic credentials (you can......
Heather Sutton
Kate what a wonderful history of the fake houses at Porchester Terrace and the Circle/Metropolitan Line. Will view these facades with a different look now..
Heather Sutton.
Jane Burnett
Demolition costs, restructuring costs, definitely
an interesting question. Compensation to the neighbours either side? I wonder. Also wondering how the current residents feel as the trains rumble past.
Once again, you have provided a wonderfully interesting story to read!😊
Roger Bradbury
You’ve gone into much greater detail than I’ve ever seen in one place about these false fronts; brilliant.
They get a mention in Ben Aaronovitch’s book Whispers Underground; “everybody knows about…” probably inspiring another, fictitious set feature in the novel, somewhere “off the Moscow Road”.
That makes them on the same line but on the other side of the Bayswater Station.