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All the United Kingdom England London Kensington Roof Gardens
Kensington Roof Gardens is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Kensington Roof Gardens

This hidden rooftop garden in downtown London offers a quiet respite from a bustling city.

London, England

Added By
Henrik Johansson
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CAPTION
The flamingos are apparently named Bill, Ben, Splosh, and Pecks   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
Kensington Roof Gardens   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
Bridge, trees, stream   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
Moorish-inspired design in Spanish garden   Russell Trow
Poppies, colorful tiled fountain   Karen Roe
You wouldn’t know you’re on top of a building in the middle of London   Tanya Hart
Clubhouse, stream, some ducks   David Terrar
Tall tree, big thing of bamboo   David Terrar
Window in the garden wall   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
Roof flowers   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
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About

A mere 100 feet from Kensington’s High Street stands a little-known urban oasis with trees, streams, ponds, fragrant flowers, and secluded corners offering visitors a tranquil refuge. However, you don’t need to go north, south, east, or west to get there; you just need to go up.

The Kensington Roof Gardens were built in 1938 on what was, at the time, the Derry & Toms department store building, and thus were long known as Derry & Toms Roof Gardens. Then a high-end retailer in Kensington’s fashionable shopping district, Derry & Toms sought to provide their well-heeled customers and the general public alike with a unique leisure space offering sweeping views of the London skyline. To design the gardens, the store commissioned landscape architect Ralph Hancock, who had also designed the rooftop gardens at Rockefeller Center in New York (which had provided the inspiration for the project).

The gardens encompasses 6000 square meters (1.5 acres) laid out around a central clubhouse. The design divided the area into three stylistically distinct sections: a Spanish garden modelled after Alhambra, with fountains, palm trees, and vines; a walled Tudor garden, with ornate windows, wisteria-hung arches, roses, lilacs, lavender, and hidden, intimate spots; and an English woodland garden, with shrubs, grasses, bridges, a rock lined stream, a garden pond with resident ducks and flamingos, and 100 trees of 30 different species. All of this has been growing — invisible from the street — in a one-meter-deep layer of soil on top of a commercial building for over seventy years.

Derry & Toms went out of business in 1973 and the building has changed hands a few times since then. Today, it hosts street-level retail (Marks and Spencer, H&M, and The Gap) as well as the offices of Sony Music UK. The roof gardens have been part of Sir Richard Branson’s empire of swank since 1981 and are currently maintained and operated by Virgin Limited Edition and known officially as The Roof Gardens. The central clubhouse contains a private members-only nightclub and a restaurant open to the public. The gardens are likewise open to the public (unless they have been rented out for a private event) and are free of any admission charge.

The Kensington Roof Gardens were featured in an episode of the BBC’s Miss Marple, and served as the setting for a 1964 music video for “Oh, Pretty Woman,” in which a poorly-synced Roy Orbison ogles a disembodied pair of legs.

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Gardens Hidden Secret Rooftops Urban Planning Oasis Plants

Know Before You Go

The Roof Gardens have come under new ownership in 2021, but are no longer open to the general public after refurbishment. As of 2024 it has become a members-only club with regular membership currently costing £2,000 per year and £500 for under 32s.

High Street Kensington on the Circle and District lines is the metro station closest to the Kensington Roof Gardens. The entrance, marked 99 Kensington High Street, is actually found on Derry Street just south of Kensington High Street.

Community Contributors

Added By

hrnick

Edited By

Simpluree, RHyzer, mahmoth, marina s

  • Simpluree
  • RHyzer
  • mahmoth
  • marina s

Published

May 13, 2016

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Sources
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Roof_Gardens
  • http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/kensington_roof_garden
  • http://mindthegap.se/TRAD%20Roof.html
  • http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Business/Kensington_Roof_Gardens/8969/
Kensington Roof Gardens
99 Kensington High Street
London, England, W8
United Kingdom
51.500853, -0.191537
Visit Website
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