Pimlico
SW1
Pimlico lies in the Borough of the City of Westminster in central London. Pimlico has Belgravia to the north; Westminster to the east; the River Thames to the south and Chelsea to the west. The neighbourhood was laid out as the southern extension of Belgravia in the first half of the 19th century by the master builder Thomas Cubitt. However, the arrival of the railway in 1860 marooned Pimlico’s fine squares and terraces on the wrong side of the tracks, cutting it off forever from wealthier Belgravia.
Pimlico has a true villagey feel whilst being in a central London location. Homes in Pimlico range from grand white stucco houses and garden squares, similarly classical but smaller houses in the ‘Pimlico Grid’ being the streets between St George’s Drive and Sutherland Street and right-to-buy flats in a number of well-maintained and well-regarded social housing estates. Dolphin Square, which when built in 1937, was the largest self-contained block of flats in Europe remains popular today with both lawyers and MPs. Pimlico has seen limited new build development, but a recent riverside scheme of apartments called Riverwalk, on the corner of Millbank and Vauxhall Bridge, is the first of a few planned new build offerings scheduled for the forthcoming years.
The area is popular with buyers who love the classical architecture but can’t afford Belgravia prices as well as purchasers seeking a weekday pied-à-terre.