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Camilla Parker Bowles is said to be saddened by plans to redevelop a building dubbed ‘aristo-apartments’ in Belgravia where she lived in her twenties and entertained Prince Charles after nights in Mayfair.
The Duchess of Cornwall, 73, has privately voiced concerns over the Duke of Westminster’s property group’s £ 400million project for the Cundy Street area near London Victoria Station, the Sunday Telegraph reports.
The block earned the nickname of ‘aristo-flats’ due to their blue-blooded tenants including Camilla, who lived in a two-bedroom apartment there in the early 1970s before her first marriage to Andrew Parker -Bowles.
The Duke of Westminster’s real estate firm Hugh Grosvenor has been accused of putting ‘profit before people’ over his proposal to demolish four blocks and replace them with new housing – a project recommended for approval by the City Council of Westminster.
The Duke of Westminster Hugh Grosvenor’s company is accused of putting ‘profit before people’ with a £ 400million development project in Belgravia which is fiercely clashed by local residents who claim the 200,000-foot development square and 48 m high will deprive them of 70%. in their natural light (Photo: Grosvenor at Charlie van Straubenzee and Daisy Jenks’ wedding at St Mary the Virgin Church on August 4, 2018 in Frensham, England)
The Duchess of Cornwall lived in one of the apartments when she was in her twenties in the early 1970s, before her marriage to Andrew Parker-Bowles (Photo: Camilla, now 73, in March 2020)
Neighbors objected to the planned construction, which will be up to 48m high in places – as high as the spire of nearby St Barnabas Church – saying it does not suit the character of the area and will wreak havoc their Regency homes and deprive them. up to 70% of their natural light.
They also took issue with the fact that much of the new homes, spanning over 200,000 square feet, will be allocated to “specialized senior housing” for 170 people.
It will also offer 93 affordable housing units, including 44 for social rent, and 70 for the free market.
The apartments were originally built to fit the character of Belgravia. While residing there, Camilla, then 25, invited the Prince of Wales over for coffee in 1972 after a night out at Annabel’s. Other previous occupants include former Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd.
In the photo: the apartment block as it is now. The apartments were inhabited by aristocrats in the 1970s
Local residents against the project, which they say will add just 12 more housing units to what already exists, fear the new development could threaten Belgravia’s heritage.
Dame Susan Tinson, former editor of ITV’s News at Ten who produced the Queen’s Christmas shows in the 1990s and 2000s, is among those leading the objection.
His four-story Georgian house is one of the properties that would be affected by the new development.
Dame Susan, 78, said: ‘I just thought at first they couldn’t mean that. They can’t completely ruin the lives of a row of people, but they just don’t seem to care.
“There is a difference between buying a house that is dark and buying a house that is bright and then being forced into darkness. Grosvenor is supposed to be the guardian of Belgravia. This is all very upsetting.
A projection of what the Grosvenor Apartments will look like. Existing residents claim the structure is too tall and will spoil natural light from their properties
The Belgravia Society wrote a letter of complaint to Westminster City Council before final project proposals were presented on Tuesday, February 16, saying Grosvenor’s development does not match the character of the area.
He also read that “the mass and the development mass are dominant and out of character in terms of appearance and with the rest of Belgravia”.
One of the Belgravia Society trustees, Mary Regnier-Leigh, 77, lawyer, told the Telegraph that she believes the large housing allowance for the elderly was intended to go to ‘wealthy old people’ ‘who wanted to live in Belgravia.
She claimed the company was only looking to make a profit from the new development and ignored the architectural integrity of the block.
A Grosvenor spokesperson said the proposal wanted to do away with the outdated block of flats with stylish new green construction.
They added that the company had considered the height very carefully and tried to strike the right balance to provide as much affordable housing as possible while still respecting the character of Belgravia, which they believed was dear to the company.
They argued that the site would be ‘unusually’ open and recessed, claiming that the amount of light it would retain was as important as the level of light that would be lost and that these were comparable to others. neighborhood streets.
This is not the first time that the Grosvenor project has been the subject of controversy. In 2019, the Duke of Westminster was charged with ‘social cleansing’ after attempting to move the current resident of Cundy Street apartments to other accommodation.
The Mirror reported at the time that its project had to be canceled after local residents signed a petition to oppose the removal of existing tenants, which included children with disabilities.
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