Clive Court

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History

Mentioned in both the famous The Buildings of England series and in the prestigious Victoria County History, Clive Court is described as 'Edwardian in style' and 'ornate'.

Originally Clive Court comprised of not only self-contained flats but also a restaurant for the use of the residents. The whole of the 7th floor contained a large dining hall and kitchen together with a lounge, 'crush hall' and cloakrooms. It also had staff quarters including a 'manageress' room complete with bath and WC, two 'china pantries', and a 'vegetables room', groceries room, and 'phone and orders' room. The developers may have been thinking of letting the general public into the restaurant but this was challenged by the local council.

This arrangement of the 7th floor was not destined to last for very long and by 1939 there were already three self-contained flats on the 7th floor with plans for three or four more, resulting in a much smaller dining hall and kitchen.

In 1947 there were plans to convert the kitchen into a snack bar and an ever smaller kitchen. The final transformation of the 7th floor came in the 1950's. In 1951 the kitchen finally gave away to two self contained flats. And what was left of the dining room was turned into a bedsit. In 1953 came plans to convert the bedsits in the Northwest corner of the 7th floor. 1955 saw plans for two new flats for the 7th floor, with another in 1958, and three more in 1959.

Another original feature was that the 8th, or top floor of Clive Court was built just with self-contained bedrooms instead of flats. There were 15 bedrooms in all, each with was basins cupboards and nothing else. There were four separate bathrooms on the 8th floor, two with self-contained w.c's and two with one w.c. in the room. Changes to the 7th and 8th floors continued beyond the 1950's and 1987 alterations and additions in 1989.

The general increase in car ownership from the 1950s is reflected in Clive Court by a 1954 plan for new garages. In Maida Vale itself, there was a large increase in cars in the late 1980's with a consequent lack of parking spaces. This resulted in car parking modifications to Clive Court to include 21 extra parking spaces.

There has been little mention of Clive Court in any historical records since the 1950s yet one thing is certain. Today, Clive Court is one of the most well located blocks in all of Maida Vale benefiting from a large selection of nearby trendy shops, cafes, bars and stylish wine bars.

We Know Mansion Blocks
The first mansion blocks were built in the early 19th Century, providing luxurious residences for the growing urban upper middle classes. As the Industrial Revolution spread throughout Europe it brought about a population boom in the major cities, and mansion blocks were devised to provide luxurious housing for wealthy white collar workers. As the centre of the cities became increasingly crowded the blocks provided this growing class with housing that boasted impressive entrances, generous elevations and balconies reminiscent of mansions. They were a particularly popular innovation in polite Parisian society.

In spite of their popularity on the continent, Londoners were initially sceptical about this new style of accommodation. In the 1850s a spacious mansion flat would set back the buyer somewhere in the order of £50-200 per annum, but the idea of living in such a communal manner was entirely contradictory to the dominant Victorian social ideals of the age. Firstly, and most importantly, apartment dwellings were simply not considered 'proper', but it was not just a case of old English snobbery. There was also widely held fear that this new type of residence would increase the risk of burglary and the spread of infection and disease.

By the 1880s London society had gradually warmed to the idea and the decade was marked by a flurry of mansion block construction across the city.

We Know Maida Vale
Starting life as an indistinguishable section of the Middlesex Forest in 1086, Maida Vale has certainly developed from the small hamlet, which in those days was not even significant enough to merit a mention.

The name Maida Vale can be traced back to an impressive military victory against the French army in Sicily in 1806. In recognition of his role in the attack General John Stuart, commander of the British forces, was ennobled Count of Maida. Three years later a tavern on the Edgware Road was named the Hero of Maida tavern and by 1810 maps designated the area surrounding the tavern as Maida.

The canal system linking Maida Vale to the Thames was completed in the early 19th Century and in 1827 plans requested by the Bishop of London were designed for the layout of roads now recognised as Maida Vale. As the centre of the city became overcrowded with an ever increasing population and new roadways developed, improvements to public transport enabled the middle classes to move outwards to new suburbs. By 1832 ninety buses were operating on route between Paddington Green and the Bank, each carrying up to twelve passengers inside and three outside. By 1839 thirteen omnibuses were licensed to carry passengers from Maida Hill into London, dramatically speeding up the pace of building in the district.

Today Maida Vale offers an enormous range of vistas, from the canal and the predominantly stuccoed houses in the south to the park and the predominantly red brick flats in the north. As stated by John Julius Norwich, Writer, Broadcaster and Resident of Maida Vale, "though obviously changed beyond recognition, it remains, in all London, the most agreeable place to live".