Christmas Carol Concert 2009 at Brown Hart Gardens
Free, Thursday 10 December, 5.30pm to 7.30pm
Join the Exhibition Brass Quintet and the Colla Voce Singers for a traditional celebration of Christmas in the beautiful surroundings of Brown Hart Gardens. With mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies to accompany the festive music.
Tickets for this free Christmas Carol Concert at Brown Hart Gardens can be obtained by emailing Sarah Middlemiss or calling 020 7470 8736. Please don't forget to tell us how many will be in your party.
Welcome to Brown Hart Gardens
Brown Hart Gardens began life as Duke Street Gardens, a western offshoot of Duke Street, which by the end of the eighteenth century was already well-established as a trading street, lined with shops and small houses. When the houses were pulled down to make way for Chesham and Balderton Buildings in 1886-88, a communal garden was laid down the centre for the benefit of the residents of the flats.
In 1902 the site was leased by the second Duke of Westminster to the Westminster Electricity Supply Co. to build a sub-station which was originally supplied from a power station in Davies Street, this meant that the street level garden had to be removed . The old garden was closed in 1903 and a two-year programme of works began. The substation was completed in 1905 to the design of C. Stanley Peach.
The substation was constructed in a Baroque style from Portland stone and featured a pavilion and steps at either end, a balustrade and Diocletian windows along the sides to light the galleries of the engine rooms and deep basements. In order to compensate local residents for the loss of the old communal garden, the Duke of Westminster insisted that a paved Italian Garden featuring trees in tubs be placed on the top of the substation, and the new Duke Street Gardens were opened in 1906.
Brown Hart Gardens Today
Today the private raised terrace is open to the general public and is a pleasant spot in which to while away an hour with a sandwich and a good book or enjoy events such as free classical music concerts, open air theatre and the free children's fun day provided by Grosvenor, the areas major landowner.