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Now just the name of an electoral ward, Hans Town was a grand eighteenth century suburb, centred on Sloane Street. Sir Hans Sloane was perhaps Chelsea’s greatest benefactor before Roman Abramovich. A president of the Royal Society, Sloane moved to Chelsea in 1742 and subsequently endowed the Physic Garden. He was instrumental
in founding the colony of Georgia and his scientific and literary collection became the nucleus of the British Museum after
his death in 1753. During the 1770s the outward spread of London led Fulham architect Henry Holland to spot an opportunity
south of Knightsbridge. He acquired building rights from the Earl of Cadogan, who had come into possession of the land via
his marriage to one of Hans Sloane’s daughters. Spacious three-storey terraces were erected along the west side of Sloane
Street and in Hans Place, then around Sloane Square, and finally in Cadogan Place in 1790. Holland built himself a mansion
called Sloane Place in the south-western part of his ‘town’ with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. Cadogan
Square replaced this when R Norman Shaw and others redeveloped Hans Town just a century later, after criticism of the district’s
anonymous architectural standards prompted the Cadogan estate to commission new designs. Each house was given its own distinctive
detailing, further enhancing the prestige of the locality.
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