Page Street, The Ice Club Westminster

Before the 1928 Thames flood brought about a flurry of new roadworks and modernisation, Page Street ran between Regency Street <towards Victoria> and Grosvenor Road at the river embankment <now Millbank>. Marsham Street and Johnson Street intersected with Page Street. In 1927 the rows of decaying tenements, stables and cottages along Page Street were certainly at odds with ambitious plans to open The Ice Club, London's first ice skating rink to open since World War 1.  With an entrance on Johnson Street (now John Islip Street), and only minutes from the Page Street cottages, The Ice Club was opened as a private members club on January 14th 1927 and was an instant hit. It hosted glamorous society events, people entertained in the dining room and the members bar and it prompted a new craze in skating that had not been seen in England before. The opening night was reported around the world. The Ottawa Citizen Feb 12th 1927 reported that The Ice Club was beseiged on the opening night when hundreds of people were turned away and some used ladders to view the skating over the crowds. The line of motor cars stretched along Millbank to St Stephens and dozens of people dressed in evening wear got out and walked in the rain leaving their chauffers to drive home. The Ice Club was established by the philanthropist Sir Stephen Courtauld, one of the Courtauld textiles family and brother of Samuel who founded the Courtauld Institute of Art, but it closed in 1939 at the start of the war. The indoor ice rink was 175 feet long by 100 feet wide and was built using the most advanced
technology of the day.
The land was leased from Westminster Council for 99 years. Sadly there is no reminder of this once glamorous past and no part of the building survives. On the site today is the Westminster Hilton DoubleTree hotel and building works for Cleland House, once a government office and now the new Berkeley Homes luxury residential development, Abell & Cleland. Further along John Islip Street it becomes Dean Ryle Street and on the corner of Horseferry Road is the head office of Burberry.

Page Street, the 1928 Thames flood and Sir Edwin Lutyens

We love the 1930s Grade II listed ‘chequerboard’ flats in Page Street, Westminster. They have had an illustrious history. Long before the Thames flood barrier was erected in 1982 the flooding of the River Thames around the Lambeth Bridge embankment on 7th January 1928 caused the tragic death of many local residents. Trapped in the squalid windowless basements of overcrowded early 19th century tenements in Page Street and the surrounding area, the residents drowned as flood waters rushed in. Local politicians were shocked by the appalling living conditions only a few minutes from the heart of the political establishment, The Palace of Westminster.

 Soon after the floods subsided the Mayor of the City of Westminster contacted the landowner, Hugh Grosvenor, the 2nd Duke of Westminster, to seek a solution to the displacement of hundreds of families in the streets covering the area between Horseferry Road, Page Street and Vincent Street, crossing the old brewery site on Marsham Street and Earl Street.  In an act of generosity hard to imagine today the 2nd Duke of Westminster agreed to lease the land to the council for 995 years for the sum of one shilling per year in order to provide proper housing for the working classes on the estate. He also agreed to contribute £113,650 towards the cost of capital and £40,000 more for expenses. It took a Private Act of Parliament (as opposed to the usual Housing Act) known as the Westminster City (Millbank) Improvement Act [1929] to establish the Grosvenor Housing Estate, 7 blocks situated on Page and Vincent Streets containing 600 dwellings.

Adding celebrity to the project was the commission of renown architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens.  Lutyens’ modernist design with its grey brick and white render facade, carved stone escutcheons, shops, courtyards and galleried walkways stand just as proud today.  They are a symbol of mighty resilience.
 [postcode  reference SW1P]