Dolphin Square is a block of private flats with some ground floor business units near the River Thames in Pimlico, Westminster, London built between 1935 and 1937. Until the building of Highbury Square, it was the most developed garden square in London built as private housing. At one time, it was home to more than 70 MPs and at least 10 Lords.
At the time of its construction, its 1,250 upmarket flats were billed by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as the "largest self-contained block of flats in Europe". To an extent, their design has been a model for later municipal developments.
History
Dolphin Square is on the site of the former works of the developer and builder Thomas Cubitt who created the surrounding Pimlico district in the 19th century. The Royal Army Clothing Depot was built on the site after Cubitt's death and stood until 1933 when the leasehold on the site reverted to the Duke of Westminster. An American firm, the Fred F. French Companies, bought the freehold for the site from the Duke with plans to build a large residential development, provisionally named Ormonde Court. Although the planning stage was successfully concluded with the LCC by January 1935, French still needed financial backing for the enterprise. At the same time, he had over-extended his credit during his recent developments in New York City such as Tudor City and Knickerbocker Village and found himself unable to repay interest on earlier deals. Needing a new backer, French sold his obligations to Richard Costain Ltd., run by Richard Rylands Costain. New plans were drawn up by the architect S. Gordon Jeeves, and building started in September 1935. Lord Amulree formally opened the building on 25 November 1936.
A. P. Herbert, writing in Dolphin Square (a promotional booklet produced for Costains in 1935, with illustrations by H. M. Bateman) described the Square as "a city of 1,250 flats, each enjoying at the same time most of the advantages of the separate house and the big communal dwelling place". The provision of a restaurant made him fear that "fortunate wives will not have enough to do. A little drudgery is good for wives, perhaps. The Dolphin lady may be spoiled". On purchasing the site, Costain remarked to a colleague: "in two or three years we'll either drive up to this spot in a Rolls-Royce, or we'll be standing here selling matches".
In 1958, Costains sold Dolphin Square, as it was now known, for £2.4 million to Sir Maxwell Joseph, who sold it to Lintang Investments in 1959 for £3.1 million. Westminster City Council bought the lease of the block for £4.5 million in the mid-1960s, and subsequently sub-let it to the Dolphin Square Trust, an effective housing association, which had been newly created for the purpose. In January 2006, the Trust and the Council sold Dolphin Square to the American Westbrook Holdings group for £200 million.
Accommodation is provided in 13 blocks (or "houses"), each named after a famous navigator or admiral. At the south (Thames) side of the Square the houses are Grenville, Drake, Raleigh and Hawkins. Moving from the river up the west side, there are Nelson, Howard, Beatty, and Duncan. A hotel and administration offices, on the north side of the Square, are in Dolphin House, previously known as Rodney. Heading south from the hotel there are Keyes, Hood, Collingwood and Frobisher.
The estate contains a swimming pool, bar, brasserie (all of which were renovated in 2008), gymnasium, and shopping arcade. In the basement are a launderette and car park. A tennis court and croquet lawn overlook the River Thames. Until 21 January 1970, London Transport bus route 134 showed PIMLICO Dolphin Square as a destination and terminated in Chichester Street.
On 16 September 2020, Axa Investment Managers - Real Assets, a real estate portfolio and asset manager, announced that it had acquired Dolphin Square on behalf of clients.