Camilla Parker Bowles is said to be saddened by plans to rebuild an apartment block dubbed ‘aristo-flats’ in Belgravia, where she lived in her twenties and received Prince Charles after nights in Mayfair.
The Duchess of Cornwall, 73, expressed in particular her concern about the Duke of Westminster’s £ 400 million scheme for the Cundy Street neighborhood near London’s Victoria Station, reports the Sunday Telegraph.
The block earned the nickname ‘aristo-flats’ because of its blue-blooded tenants, which included 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 company Hugh Grosvenor has been accused of putting “profit before people” for its proposal to tear down four blocks and replace them with new housing – a project recommended for approval by the City Council of Westminster.
Duke of Westminster’s company Hugh Grosvenor is being accused of putting “profit before people” with a £ 400 million development project in Belgravia, which is being fiercely opposed by local residents who claim the 200,000 square feet, 48 Meters of development height will deprive them of 70 percent of their natural light (photo: Grosvenor at the wedding of Charlie van Straubenzee and Daisy Jenks at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin on August 4, 2018 in Frensham, England)
The Duchess of Cornwall lived in one of the apartments when she was in her early twenties in the early 1970s, before her marriage to Andrew Parker-Bowles (photo: Camilla, now 73, in March 2020)
Neighbors opposed the planned construction, which will be up to 48 m high in some places – as tall as the tower of St Barnabas church – claiming that it does not fit the character of the area and will destroy their Regency houses and deprive them of up to 70 percent of its natural light.
They also questioned the fact that a large proportion of the new homes, covering more than 200,000 square feet, were allocated for ‘special accommodation for the elderly’ for 170 people.
It will also offer 93 affordable homes, including 44 for social rent and 70 for entry into the free market.
The apartments were originally built to suit Belgravia’s character. While living there, Camilla, then 25, invited the Prince of Wales for coffee in 1972, after a night out at Annabel’s. Other previous occupants include former Commons spokeswoman Betty Boothroyd.
In the photo: the apartment block as it is now. Apartments were inhabited by aristocrats in the 1970s
Local residents who oppose the project, which they claim to add just 12 additional homes to what already exists, are concerned that the new venture threatens Belgravia’s heritage.
Dame Susan Tinson, a former ITV News at Ten editor who produced the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts in the 1990s and 2000s, is among those leading the objection.
His four-story Georgian home is one of the properties that will be affected by the new development.
Dame Susan, 78, said: ‘I just thought at first that they couldn’t be serious. They may not be completely ruining the lives of several people, but they don’t seem to care.
‘There is a difference between buying a house that is dark and buying a house that is light and then having the darkness imposed on you. Grosvenor is considered the guardian of Belgravia. It is all very disturbing. ‘
A projection of what the Grosvenor apartments will look like. Residents claim that the structure is too high and will damage the natural light of its properties
The Belgravia Society wrote a letter of complaint to the Westminster City Council ahead of the final project proposals submitted on Tuesday, February 16, claiming that Grosvenor’s development does not fit the characteristics of the area.
He also said that “the volume of development is arrogant and out of character in terms of its appearance and in relation to the rest of Belgravia”.
One of the curators of the Belgravia Society, Mary Regnier-Leigh, a 77-year-old lawyer, told the Telegraph that she felt that the large allocation of housing for the elderly was aimed at “wealthy elderly” who wanted to live in Belgravia.
She stated that the company was only seeking profit from the venture and is disregarding the block’s architectural integrity.
A spokesman for Grosvenor said the proposal wanted to destroy the outdated apartment block with a new ecological and beautiful building.
They added that the company carefully analyzed the height and tried to find the right balance to provide as many affordable housing as possible, while respecting the character of Belgravia, which they said was dear to the company.
They argued that the site would be “unusual” open and back, claiming that the amount of light it would retain was as important as the level of light it would lose and that it was comparable to other streets in the neighborhood.
It is not the first time that the Grosvenor project has been the subject of controversy. In 2019, the Duke of Westminster was accused of ‘social cleansing’ after trying to relocate the current resident of the Cundy Street apartments to another home.
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 disabled children.