10
Loading video...
By Rebecca Flood
Editor
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A row of townhouses along a wealthy London street are hiding an interesting secret, as it was revealed some of them are fake and are simply elaborate façades.
Jack Chesher, a tour guide, shared a clip to his TikTok account @livinglondonhistory earlier this month, as he talked people through the "sneaky" properties located in the capital.
In the clip, Chesher says: "This is Leinster Gardens: A seemingly ordinary terrace of West London houses. But why do these two doors have no letterboxes and why are the windows blocked out?"
Read More
New York Mansion Abandoned for Nearly a Century on the Market for $495k5 min read
Ancient Roman Floor More Than 1,500 Years Old Found Under London Street4 min read
‘Hidden Dream’: Secret Indoor Garden Found After Woman Tears Down Damp Wall3 min read
...
He continues: "The answer lies around the back! From the rear you will see that 23-24 Leinster Gardens are in fact just façades with no rooms behind. From the front they give the impression of an unbroken terrace but were in fact built to cover the view of a stretch of tube line.
"The Metropolitan line was constructed here, with the houses, in the 1860s, when trains still ran on steam engines. So needed open air sections to vent accumulated condensation."
Chesher, who has a website, Livinglondonhistory.com, detailing his guided tours, told Newsweek: "I am always on the hunt for curiosities and oddities, of which London has so many. London has lots of brilliant museums but the streets themselves are, I believe, the greatest and most fascinating museum of all.
"The fake façades of Leinster Gardens particularly interested me because it is a great example of something not being what it first seems, again something London is great for, whether that be bollards that are actually cannons or fences that are actually recycled World War Two stretchers! Leinster Gardens at first sight appears to be an ordinary, if pretty fancy, West London terrace."
...
He added you need to "look over the high brick wall" to see the back of the buildings, and the tracks they obscure, with the tube similar to the New York subway.
Chesher, who combined his degree in history and passion for walking around cities over lockdown, currently offers three tours; the hidden Strand, Lambeth's trailblazers and the backstreets of Westminster.
His TikTok page is filled with quirks hiding in plain sight around the capital, but the Leinster Gardens video is his most popular with nearly 3 million views.
People expressed their shock over the fake houses, as Doris-cockapoo joked: "That's about £20 million worth of prime real estate there."
Bigfatqueen joked: "Sirius Black lived there that's why."
Jonathan Davila thought: "Imagine living on the ground floor flats of the other houses. The noise each time a train passes by."
Anilpatel thought: "A good design feature but needs a façade at the back."
...
Scott admitted: "I thought this was gonna be like a 50 mil house reveal."
Ash Newlove - Nutrition Coach commented: "The people living there get to feel like they're riding a train every day. How magical!"
Mr_NotPerfect admitted: "After 4 years living in London. Now I know."
While Yumraj on Bicycle asked: "Now because we're not using steam engines, why can't we use the space and build something above it ?"
The façades come under the remit of Transport for London (TfL), and a spokesperson told Newsweek: "The houses at 23 and 24 Leinster Gardens were constructed by the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s to hide the open sections of track that are behind this street of terraced houses.
"This section of the Underground was constructed with a 'cut and cover' system, where workers would dig a trench, lay track, and then cover the hole over, leaving a subterranean space for trains to run through.
"However, since the original trains were steam trains, there needed to be several open sections of track for ventilation purposes, so that steam wouldn't just collect in the tunnels and stations. The false-fronted houses on Leinster Garden hide one such open area."
...
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines