Dolphin Square
Dolphin Square is an estate of private
At the time of its construction, its 1,250 upmarket flats were billed by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as the "largest self-contained block of flats in Europe". To an extent, their design has been a model for later municipal developments.[2]
History
Dolphin Square is on the site of the former works of the developer and builder
A. P. Herbert, writing in Dolphin Square (a promotional booklet produced for Costains in 1935, with illustrations by H. M. Bateman) described the Square as "a city of 1,250 flats, each enjoying at the same time most of the advantages of the separate house and the big communal dwelling place". The provision of a restaurant made him fear that "fortunate wives will not have enough to do. A little drudgery is good for wives, perhaps. The Dolphin lady may be spoiled".[7] On purchasing the site, Costain remarked to a colleague: "in two or three years we'll either drive up to this spot in a Rolls-Royce, or we'll be standing here selling matches".[7]
In 1958, Costains sold Dolphin Square, as it was now known, for £2.4 million to Sir Maxwell Joseph, who sold it to Lintang Investments in 1959 for £3.1 million.[3][8] Westminster City Council bought the lease of the block for £4.5 million in the mid-1960s, and subsequently sub-let it to the Dolphin Square Trust, an effective[clarification needed] housing association, which had been newly created for the purpose.[3] In January 2006, the Trust and the Council sold Dolphin Square to the American Westbrook Holdings group for £200 million.[3]
Accommodation is provided in 13 blocks (or "houses"), each named after a famous navigator or admiral. At the south (Thames) side of the Square the houses are
.The estate contains a swimming pool, bar, brasserie (all of which were renovated in 2008), gymnasium, and shopping arcade. In the basement are a launderette and car park. A tennis court and croquet lawn overlook the River Thames. Until 21 January 1970, London Transport bus route 134 showed PIMLICO Dolphin Square as a destination and terminated in Chichester Street.
In 2020, Axa Investment Managers announced that it had acquired Dolphin Square.[9]
Architecture
Costains appointed the architect Gordon Jeeves to design Dolphin Square and he was assisted by Cecil Eve.
When it opened it had flats varying in size from one-bedroom suites to flats with five bedrooms, a maid's room and three bathrooms. Onsite facilities provided for residents when completed included shops, a children's centre and nursery, library and, in the basement, a garage for up to 300 cars.[11] The planned riverside wharf, which would have included a cafe, marina and a terraced garden leading from Grosvenor Road to the Thames, was never built.[13]
The 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) of communal gardens were designed by Richard Sudell, president of the
Residents
The proximity of Dolphin Square to the
Politicians who have lived in the development include Harold Wilson, David Steel, William Hague, Estelle Morris, Beverley Hughes, Michael Mates, John Langford-Holt and Iain Mills.[3] (Mills died in his flat in the square's Duncan House.)[3]
Other notable residents have included comedians
Soviet spy arrest
Wartime base for Free French Government
Grenville House was the headquarters of General De Gaulle's Free French during World War II[16] and number 308 Hood House was used by MI5 section B5(b) responsible for infiltrating agents into potentially subversive groups from 1924 to 1946.[17]
Discredited allegations of child abuse
The
Exaro and the BBC News both carried interviews with Beech in which he lied about being abused at Dolphin Square.[20][21] The force simultaneously launched a related murder inquiry under the name Operation Midland, in relation to Beech's claims that he saw an MP strangle a child to death.[22][23] On 21 March 2016, the Metropolitan Police announced that this had been closed without any charges.[24] That year it emerged that Beech's statements were fabrications, and the police's coverage was rebuked for being seen to legitimise the claims.[25] In 2019, Beech was convicted of making up allegations of a VIP paedophile ring.[26]
In popular culture
Scenes in the 1967 sci-fi horror The Sorcerers were filmed in and around Dolphin Square.[27]
The video for Culture Club's 1982 UK number one single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", was set, but not filmed, at the Dolphin Pool.[28] The pool in the video is of a different architectural style, visibly not the Dolphin Pool.[29]
In British novelist Kate Atkinson's 2018 spy novel Transcription, MI5 runs a small counterespionage operation from Nelson House in Dolphin Square.
References
- ^ "Dolphin Square: The UK's most notorious address?". BBC News. 10 August 2015.
- ^ "Architecture: Dolphin Square". www.dolphinsquare.co.uk. 10 August 2015. Archived from the original on 24 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Swimming with the tide". The Daily Telegraph. 15 June 2006. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
- OCLC 884550799.
- ^ Gourvish 2014, p. 50
- ^ Gourvish 2014, p. 61
- ^ required.)
- required.)
- ^ "AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets completes acquisition of UK's largest private residential scheme, Dolphin Square". AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
- ^ a b England, Historic. "Dolphin Square Gardens, Non Civil Parish - 1455668 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
- ^ a b "Dolphin Square, Westminster". The Architect & Building News: 6–11. 7 January 1938.
- )
- )
- ^ "Conservation area audits". Westminster City Council. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- ^ Milmo, Cahal (30 June 2006). "Secrets revealed of gay 'honey trap' that made spy of Vassall". The Independent. London.
- ^ "Conservation area audits: Dolphin Square Conservation Area Audit SPD". Westminster City Council. 23 October 2008. p. 14. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-586-06867-0.
- ^ "Met starts investigation into child sex abuse at Dolphin Square". Exaro. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- ^ Gilligan, Andrew (15 November 2014). "Westminster 'paedophile ring': now where does the investigation go?". The Daily Telegraph. London.
- ^ "Video: Nick tells of how MPs liked to inflict pain during abuse". Exaro. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine 'possible homicide'". BBC News. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- Metropolitan Police Service. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "How abuse victim's claims that Tory MP murdered boy convinced cops to launch homicide investigation". The Sunday People. London. 16 November 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ Laville, Sandra; Syal, Rajeev (21 March 2016). "Operation Midland: inquiry into alleged VIP paedophile ring collapses". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
- ^ Mendick, Robert (18 March 2016). "VIP sex abuse inquiry to close in days". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Evans, Martin (22 July 2019). "Carl Beech aka Nick found guilty of making up Westminster VIP paedophile ring". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "The Sorcerers". reelstreets.com. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
- ^ "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me: Behind the videos". boygeorgefever.com. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
- ^ "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me". youtube.com.
Further reading
- Sander, Hannah (10 August 2015). "Dolphin Square: The UK's most notorious address?". BBC. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- Terry Gourvish (2014) Dolphin Square: the history of a unique building, Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781472911094