page_title: Queen's Park, London
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Queen's Park, London / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Victorian houses on Chevening Road in Queen's Park, built around 1899.
context_page_description: Queen's Park is an area and civil parish in North-West London located 3.9 miles north-west of Charing Cross. The northern half lies in the London Borough of Brent while the southern half lies in the City of Westminster.
  Known for family-friendly living, the area is centred around a park of 30 acres, which opened in 1887 and was named to honour Queen Victoria. The area takes its name from the park, and in turn gives its name to Queens Park Rangers football club.
  Architecturally, Queen's Park is an important historic area, with a unified urban layout with a high level of building preservation. The park is a good example of a Victorian urban green space, and the surrounding streets largely comprise original two- and three-storey Victorian buildings.
context_section_description: The area around Queen's Park was developed from 1875, and was named to honour Queen Victoria. The open space opened in 1887, located to the north, also shares the name.
  In 1879 the Royal Agricultural Society annual show was held on the area which would become Queen's Park. The 100 acre site was chosen for its proximity to the railway network, Queen's Park Station having opened on 2 June 1879 on the main line from London to Birmingham, just in time to facilitate the movement of heavy machinery and stock. By the 1870s the annual shows had become major events and the Kilburn show was to be the largest ever held. The show was opened on 30 June 1879 by the Prince and Princess of Wales and saw an entry of 11,878 implements, 2,879 livestock entries and over 187,000 visitors. Poor weather and deep mud led to low attendance, but a visit by Queen Victoria on the fifth day, where she was driven on a specially constructed drive of ballast and brick from the new station along Salusbury Road on a route lined with cheering crowds, rallied visitors.
  In 1884 the North West London Park League was formed to secure the site as a people's park. The League appealed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners not to sell the land for building until the future of the site could be assured as a public open space. In 1885 the Estates Committee of the Commissioners agreed to offer the use of the central portion of the land of 30 acres (12 ha) for public use and that the remaining portion of the site would be laid out as housing to derive the most benefit from the frontage onto the proposed park. The offer was to be made through the Lord Mayor to the City of London Corporation, conditional on Parliamentary sanction. At 3:00 p.m. 5 September 1887 Queen's Park officially opened with several thousand people present.
  The houses around Queen's Park were erected over a number of years starting with the north side of Harvist Road of which the majority were completed by 1899. The west side of Chevening Road was also under construction in 1899 by local builders Bennet and Gimbrett to the design of G. A. Sexton. Many builders contributed to the estate which helped to generate the varied architectural character that can be seen on Kempe, Keslake and Chamberlayne Roads.
  The football team Queens Park Rangers was formed in Queen's Park in 1886, and became a professional team in 1889.
caption: Victorian houses on Chevening Road in Queen's Park, built around 1899.
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