In 1852 Richard Ansdell, then resident in Victoria Road, built a second studio in St. Alban's Grove (to the west of LeGrew's which was opposite number 3) and repaired an old cottage adjacent. In about 1860–1 Ansdell replaced these with a large and plain three-storey house of five bays in grey brick, called Lytham House.
In 1886 (on Ansell's death) the freehold of Lytham House was sold, and it became the Kensington High School for Girls. It was demolished and rebuilt in 1951–5.
This photo is captioned: ".. c. 1905. Lytham House, St. Alban's Grove, in occupation of Kensington High School for Girls". Since it (the tall 5-bay section) is still standing we struggle to reconcile the photo with the text, though both are from British History Online.
Two further notes:
Ansdell had 11 children and, examined in Google 3D, the tall 5-bay section is clearly a residential building, with windows on the north similar to those on the south. There is no sign that there ever was a large north-facing studio window which is what artists required at this time.
The building to the right of the photo has been replaced, at least the front part of it has. In Google 3D the view of the back is very interesting. The back extension has a large circular roof-light and the northern elevation has a large angled window - exactly as is often found in artists' studios.
Sources: British History Online.
The story of Ansdell’s buildings in St Alban’s Grove is complicated, and made more so by street number changes, so we asked the good people at the Richard Ansdell website for help. Sarah kindly sent us a rough timeline of the Ansdells residences in Kensington:
1847 - 52 7 – 8 Victoria Road.
1852 - 60 39 – 41 Victoria Road. At this time, renovating a second property in St. Alban’s Grove (No. 3) plus an old cottage which became Lytham House.
1860 - 61 Living at Lytham House, 3 St. Alban’s Grove.
1861 - 84 Still living at Lytham House whilst building Collingwood Tower, Camberley where he was living when he died in 1885. At this time he also had a Scottish Lodge in the Highlands which he built in 1870.
1905 Lytham House became the Kensington High School for girls.
1940 - 41 It was partly bombed during the London Blitz.
1951 -55 Demolished and rebuilt – see the opening plaque.
Maps add a new perspective. The buildings shown in this 1850s map are unchanged in 1863. The 1914 map shows the school. The 1940s-60s map shows the tall building and the one to its east remaining with nothing further to the east.
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