Ladbroke Grove

Reason for inclusion: The possible location of Culverton Smith’s house.

Accessibility: Public access.

Description: A street with a row of Victorian terraced houses between Notting Hill and Kensington.

Comments: Conan Doyle referred to Culverton Smith’s house as being on Lower Burke Street ‘a line of fine houses lying in the vague borderland between Notting Hill and Kensington’. Lower Burke Street does not exist and Thomas Bruce Wheeler ascribed the setting to the road called Ladbroke Grove. Certainly, there are houses on this road that meet the description of Culvington Smith’s house: ‘old fashioned iron railings, massive folding door and shining brasswork’.