REDD, the London and Monaco residential property company, has acquired One Palace Green on Kensington Palace Gardens, a Grade II” Listed mansion originally the London residence of the Howard family of Castle Howard fame, which REDD plan to sensitively restore into a new luxury residential scheme which is targeting a completed value in excess of £100 million.

Award winning architectural practice Pilbrow & Partners has been appointed to design the new scheme with Donald Insall Associates advising on heritage and Gerald Eve on planning.

REDD will work closely with The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, The Crown Estate, local stakeholders and heritage groups to design a scheme that will sensitively restore the existing mansion and be an exemplar standard in terms of sustainability and heritage restoration. A planning application is anticipated later this year with construction planned for Summer 2022. Completion is scheduled for 2024.

Located on a 0.25 acre plot on Kensington Palace Gardens, overlooking Palace Green and Kensington Palace, One Palace Green was originally built in 1868-1870 as a 17,000 sq ft mansion for George Howard (1843-1911), the 9th Earl of Carlisle, designed in Queen Anne revival style by renowned architect Philip Webb, with interiors by William Morris of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and company. In 1957 One Palace Green was converted into a collection of large lateral apartments by The Crown Estate.

Accessed via double gates and a carriage driveway, One Palace Green has a grand brick and Portland stone façade, arranged over lower ground, ground and four upper floors, with generous ceiling heights, tall sash windows and large rooms on all floors, complete with a coach house, gardens and off street parking.

In order to create the finest new address on Kensington Palace Gardens, REDD plan to sensitively restore One Palace Green to provide a collection of new luxury residences with lateral living spaces, and access onto terraces and gardens. The address will have a 5-star concierge and property management service, managed by REDD’s House Management team.

REDD put sustainability at the heart of all of their developments with One Palace Green being no exception. The project will utilise the latest technologies and building techniques to minimise its carbon footprint. It will also look to adopt on-site renewable energy sources.

The new interiors will reinstate some of the building’s historic features, layered with a modern specification in order to create contemporary living spaces that pay respect to the William Morris heritage of the building. The residences will have a cutting-edge air filtration and air quality management system in order to provide safe and pure air that minimises outside vehicular pollution, viruses and pollen levels.

Russell Smithers, Managing Director of REDD says: “One Palace Green is a landmark acquisition for REDD and will create one of the top tier luxury residential developments in London. We will utilise our in-house development management expertise, with our team of extremely experienced individuals in the fields of heritage restoration and luxury design to deliver the finest new residences on Kensington Palace Gardens. We are currently working on initial ideas and look forward to speaking to the local community shortly.”

The site at One Palace Green was originally occupied by a Crown Estate Grace-and-Favour Royal residence used by a cousin of HM Queen Victoria which was replaced by the current Philip Webb and William Morris mansion designed for the Howard family.

With estates including Castle Howard and Naworth Castle George Howard, the 9th Earl of Carlisle, was an artist and MP whose guests at One Palace Green included William Gladstone, William Morris, Lewis Carroll and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The famous green dining room designed by William Morris in the Victoria and Albert Museum is a precursor of one of the original interiors at One Palace Green.
Shortly after the death of the Earl in 1911 One Palace Green was acquired by Sir John Barker (1840-1914), the founder of the Barkers department store on Kensington High Street, for use as his London home. In 1912 the department store was devastated by fire and this led to One Palace Green being used as a furniture depository for Barkers, a role which continued until 1926 when the store was reopened.

Palace Green and Kensington Palace Gardens is a tree lined private road which provides one of the most secure locations in the capital, with security barriers and lodges at both ends of the road monitoring vehicular and pedestrian access.