About Kensington Roof Gardens
The Roof Garden is a roof garden covering 6000 m2 on top of the former Derry & Toms building on Kensington High Street, in central London, in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Since the 1980s the garden has been used as a restaurant and club. The gardens are not visible from Kensington High Street. HistoryDerry and Toms department store was opened in Kensington in 1933. The gardens were laid out between 1936 and 1938 by Ralph Hancock, a landscape architect, on the instructions of Trevor Bowen (then vice-president of Barkers, the department store giant that owned the site and constructed the building). They cost £25, 000 to create and visitors were charged 1 shilling to enter. Money raised was donated to local hospitals and £120, 000 was raised during the next 30 years. The building housed the department store Derry and Toms until 1973, and then Biba until 1975. Since the 1980s the garden has been used as a restaurant and club. The Roof Garden was listed as a Grade II site by English Heritage in 1998.
Kensington Roof Gardens Description
The Roof Garden is a roof garden covering 6000 m2 on top of the former Derry & Toms building on Kensington High Street, in central London, in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Since the 1980s the garden has been used as a restaurant and club. The gardens are not visible from Kensington High Street. HistoryDerry and Toms department store was opened in Kensington in 1933. The gardens were laid out between 1936 and 1938 by Ralph Hancock, a landscape architect, on the instructions of Trevor Bowen (then vice-president of Barkers, the department store giant that owned the site and constructed the building). They cost £25, 000 to create and visitors were charged 1 shilling to enter. Money raised was donated to local hospitals and £120, 000 was raised during the next 30 years. The building housed the department store Derry and Toms until 1973, and then Biba until 1975. Since the 1980s the garden has been used as a restaurant and club. The Roof Garden was listed as a Grade II site by English Heritage in 1998.