Addison Avenue

{{Short description|Street in London, England}}

{{Infobox street

| name = Addison Avenue

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| image = Addison Avenue - geograph.org.uk - 4143853.jpg

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| image_alt = View of Addison Road

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| caption = Looking northwards along Addison Avenue

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| namesake = Joseph Addison (1672–1719), essayist and statesman

| type = Street

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| area = Holland Park

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| location = Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England

| postal_code = W11

| metro = Holland Park tube station

| coordinates = {{coord|51.50246|N|0.20932|W|display=inline,title|region:GB_scale:2000}}

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| north = St James's Gardens, St James' Church

| east = Norland Square

| south = Holland Park Avenue, Addison Road

| west = Royal Crescent

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| construction_start_date = 1840s

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File:Church of St James Norlands - geograph.org.uk - 421513.jpg at the northern end of the street]]

Addison Avenue{{cite web| url=https://www.britainexpress.com/London/Addison-Avenue.htm | title=Addison Avenue | work=Britain Express | accessdate=20 June 2023 }} is a street in the Notting Hill area of London.{{cite book | title=The London Encyclopaedia | publisher=Macmillan | chapter=Addison Avenue | year=1983 | page=5 | editor1-last=Weinreb | editor1-first=Ben | editor2-last=Hibbert | editor2-first=Christopher | editor2-link=Christopher Hibbert }} Located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, it runs northwards from Holland Park Avenue to St James's Gardens and St James' Church, crossing Queensdale Road about halfway along. Norland Square is located to its east while Royal Crescent is a little way to the west. A broad, tree-lined avenue, it is largely residential with some commercial properties at the southern end. The smaller Addison Place mews street runs off the western side of the road, looping northwards until it meets Queensdale Road. Addison Avenue is in the wealthy London area of Holland Park.{{cite web| url=https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/londoners-pay-a-pretty-penny-to-live-in-holland-parkhome-to-summer-opera-grand-mansions-and-victoria-beckham-21265386 | title=Londoners Pay a Pretty Penny to Live in Holland Park—Home to Summer Opera, Grand Mansions and Victoria Beckham | first=Claire | last=Carponen | date=11 February 2023 | work=Mansion Global | accessdate=20 June 2023 }}

The street, like nearby Addison Road to the south, is named after the early 18th-century writer and politician Joseph Addison who lived at nearby Holland House.The London Encyclopaedia p.6Bebbington p.16 The Holland Estate was gradually redeveloped for housing although Addison Avenue was actually built on the adjacent Norland Estate.{{cite web | url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol37/pp101-126 | title=The Holland estate: To 1874 | work=British History Online | location=UK }}{{cite web | url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol37/pp276-297 | title=The Norland estate | work=British History Online | location=UK }} It was developed during the 1840sCherry & Pevsner p.522 by the architect and property developer Robert Cantwell. It was designed with a vista towards St James' Church at the northern end of the street, which was built at the same time.Curl p.189

A number of buildings in the street are now Grade II listed,{{cite web | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1080781?section=official-list-entry | title=54–56, ADDISON AVENUE W11, non Civil Parish – 1080781 | work=Historic England | location=UK }}{{cite web | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1358091 | title=46–52, ADDISON AVENUE W11, non Civil Parish – 1358091 | work= Historic England | location=UK}}{{cite web | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1080780 | title=38–44, ADDISON AVENUE W11, non Civil Parish – 1080780 | work=Historic England | location=UK}} including all those north of Queensdale Road.{{cite web| url=http://patrickbaty.co.uk/2016/04/15/addison-avenue-london-w11/ | title=Addison Avenue, London W11 | first=Patrick | last=Baty | website=patrickbaty.co.uk | location=UK | date=15 April 2016 | accessdate=20 June 2023 }} The houses in the northern part of the street are attributed to F.W. Stent. The street is part of the Norland Conservation Area, designated in 1969.

File:Sir HUGH CARELTON GREENE 1910-1987 Journalist and Director-General of the BBC lived here 1956-1967.jpg commemorating Hugh Carleton Greene, Director-General of the BBC]]

Among the notable former residents was Hugh Carleton Greene (1910–1987), Director-General of the BBC during the 1960s, who is now commemorated by a blue plaque.{{cite web | url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/hugh-carleton-greene/ | title=Hugh Carleton Greene | Broadcaster | work=Blue Plaques | publisher=English Heritage | location=UK }}

In 2023 the "Friends of Pauline Boty" unveiled their own blue plaque for Pauline Boty.{{Cite web |date=21 June 2023 |title=Blue plaque to be unveiled for Pauline Boty at Addison Avenue on Saturday 1st July 2023 |url=https://paulineboty.org/2023/06/21/blue-plaque-to-be-unveiled-for-pauline-boty-at-addison-avenue-on-saturday-1st-july-2023/ |access-date=16 February 2024 |website=Pauline Boty}}