Hyde Park Gardens consists of two roads running adjacent to the North Western corner of Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

, London. Number 1 Hyde Park Gardens runs up to Number 23 with a large private communal garden and then the road separates to allow access to The Ring and into Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

 and the neighbouring Kensington Gardens

Kensington Gardens

Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, is one of the Royal Parks of London, lying immediately to the west of Hyde Park. It is shared between the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The park covers an area of 111 hectares .The open spaces...

. Numbers 24 to 31 continue on a private gated road also with their own communal gardens buffering them from the busy Bayswater Road. They are amongst the most exclusive properties on the northern side of Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

 and date from the early 19th century. Grand white stucco fronted houses now converted into equally grand apartments. Many celebrities such as Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley

Keira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham...

 and overseas royalty, such as Queen Noor of Jordan, keep apartments on this exclusive road. Access is strictly controlled via 24 hour porterage.
An early resident of 18 Hyde Park Gardens was Maria Drummond

Maria Kinnaird

Maria Kinnaird was born on St. Vincent, but was orphaned by a volcanic eruption and she was adopted by the politician, Conversation Sharp. She was the heiress of her adopted father and she has been described as a accomplished, attractive, and intelligent woman...

, widow of Thomas Drummond

Thomas Drummond

Captain Thomas Drummond , from Edinburgh, Scotland, was an army officer, civil engineer and senior public official. Drummond used the Drummond light which was employed in the trigonometrical survey of Great Britain and Ireland. He is sometimes mistakenly given credit for the invention of limelight,...

 and the adopted daughter of Richard "Conversation" Sharp

Richard Sharp (politician)

Richard Sharp, FRS, FSA , also known as "Conversation" Sharp, was a hat-maker, banker, merchant, poet, critic, British politician, but above all - doyen of the conversationalists.-Family background:...

. There is a fascinating description of a party that took place there on the 18th March 1844,
The library, designed by the architect Decimus Burton

Decimus Burton

Decimus Burton was a prolific English architect and garden designer, He is particularly associated with projects in the classical style in London parks, including buildings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and London Zoo, and with the layout and architecture of the seaside towns of Fleetwood and...

, was said to be the most beautiful feature of this particular house, where Macaulay and Archbishop Whately

Richard Whately

Richard Whately was an English rhetorician, logician, economist, and theologian who also served as the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin.-Life and times:...

 were also welcome visitors, and a further description of the downstairs accommodation has also survived, as follows: