Lowndes Square is a residential garden square at the north-west end of Belgravia, London, SW1 in which it is formed of archetypal grand terraces of light stucco houses, cream or white. The length of the central rectangular garden, is parallel with Sloane Street to the west; visible from the north-west corner is a corner of the Harvey Nichols store beyond which is Knightsbridge tube station. Ecclesiastically, it remains in a northern projection of one of the parishes of Chelsea, save its east side, in the very small parish of St Paul, Knightsbridge; which is mirrored secularly by the limits of two Boroughs.
Ownership and building design
The square has the highest percentage of highly anonymous ownership in the UK, accounting for 40% of the homes. The High Commission for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is located at 35 Lowndes Square. It houses are valued in excess of £10 million and so are mainly internally converted into apartments, some of which are multi-level; locally listed building status for most of the buildings means the façades and exterior structure above ground must remain little changed. №s 11 and 12 have higher, main statutory-level protection. Russian businessman, Roman Abramovich bought two of its houses in 2008 and, once completed, the merged house featuring eight bedroom suites is estimated at £150 million, exceeding the previous national record of £80 million. As with Belgrave Square, George Basevi designed most of the homes. Lowndes Court, a classical apartment block takes up the south side bar № 34 ; the north side is the Park Tower which fronts Knightsbridge, an arterial road on the other side. The Pakistan High Commission takes up an interior conversion of №s 35-36.
Context and central garden
On the other side of Sloane Street are Wilton Crescent and Belgrave Square, notable garden squares of London which are also showcases Basevi's designs. The private communal garden is and contains plane trees and shrubs.
In film, fiction and the media
This was a setting in the Edward Frederic Benson novel The Countess of Lowndes Square. In Alan Hollinghurst's novel The Line of Beauty, the Ouradi family live on the square. Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell's 1970 film Performance, starring Mick Jagger and James Fox, used interiors of Leonard Plugge's Lowndes Square house.
