| miraclesteinway 17.12.2018 19:31 |
Not a very interesting post but: I walked past Garden Lodge the other day when I was in London (I went for a Chinese on Earl's Court Road and on the way home I decided to drop past which I never usually do). It looks normal. There was no tribute to Freddie, the doors in the wall had perspex over them, there was clear anti-climb paint on the wall as far as I could see. Some of the bricks look like they've been replaced but that could have been done years ago or the wall was increased in height. The mews house just to the left of the lodge had a bouquet of flowers stuck in the letter box, I don't know if that was a tribute to Freddie or something else, and there were some young people gathered around a big kitchen table - I didn't peer in, but I glanced in from about 10 feet away as I walked past. I did walk up to the wall at Garden Lodge and I could see that despite cleaning, the bricks are still in a mess, all that graffiti caused quite a bit of damage to the wall. To be honest I was glad it was back to normal because although the graffiti was a well-intended tribute and even featured in Queen videos, it's not good for anyone to have their house written on for any reason when they don't want it to happen. I did notice there was more security on it compared to the last time I walked past which was back in 2007 or 2008, there are now two cameras pinned to the wall. I probably won't walk past again unless I actually have cause to go down that street, and I'm not exactly in the market to buy or rent a property there. |
| Sweetandtenderhooligan 17.12.2018 19:47 |
I don't understand why you would go vandalize a place he loved so much. I've heard Mary doesn't live there anymore, but maybe her sons were in the Mews house? |
| miraclesteinway 17.12.2018 21:06 |
I didn't go to write anything on it, I walked past it, stopped, looked at the wall, and moved on. I don't know if Mary lives there anymore, I have no idea. The house did look empty. |
| queenbuzz 17.12.2018 23:51 |
I have read several books and various postings about Garden Lodge and the Mews and can't seem to grasp the size of either. What is the approx square footage of each? |
| Blackvy 18.12.2018 00:34 |
miraclesteinway wrote: To be honest I was glad it was back to normal because although the graffiti was a well-intended tribute and even featured in Queen videos, it's not good for anyone to have their house written on for any reason when they don't want it to happen.I agree with you, I'm glad the house is back to normal with no graffitis on its walls. |
| dysan 18.12.2018 07:59 |
bump |
| miraclesteinway 18.12.2018 09:29 |
bumping again because QZ has just been spammed.... |
| spiralstatic 18.12.2018 11:09 |
I was there a few weeks ago too. The only other time I'd been there was the first time I ever went to London as a teenager. I remember being terrified trying to find it and have no real recollection of what it even looked like then (though it was already some time in the '00's by then). Those flowers in the door of the near(-ish)-by mews were there then too. It's not so close to Garden Lodge and them still being there in the same way a few weeks later, makes me think there is no connection to Freddie and it is probably something connected with their location. People had left messages on pieces of paper: cards and flowers though at the Garden Lodge gate when I was there. I don't see anything wrong in this myself. It isn't vandalising the property to do that in my view. You couldn't do that now even if anyone wanted to as the paint on the wall prevents it and the signs on Garden Lodge's door say graffiti is a crime, highlight the cctv and state it is a private property. It all likely just goes straight in a bin, but who knows. As for the size, I mean, it's big but not silly-size. You can't really tell the size of the house. I haven't a clue in terms of square footage. But I live in a semi-detached house. I'm gonna guess from the size of the garden that it's at least 4X the size of a semidetached house and obviously there is the garden too. That's a total guess though. But it's definitely larger than a usual detached house. But that's unclear as it is as for example there are huuuuuuugggggggeeeee terraced houses in London, so! It's a peaceful street given it is in central London. Lots of birdsong and a calmness there. Did Freddie own those Mews houses too? They're separate to Garden Lodge, outside its walls and have no obvious connection. |
| oligneisti 18.12.2018 11:40 |
Post above made me wonder about the size so I went to Google Maps. I also tried streetview and this is how it looks: link |
| queenbuzz 18.12.2018 12:49 |
I didn't realize that it is possible to pay Google to block a view? I am assuming that Mary was able to do that. A larger house here in the States would be approx 4-5,000 square feet in size so I was just curious and mentally trying to get perspective. Looking at the street though, I was surprised at how close the house is to the street. |
| Vocal harmony 18.12.2018 13:02 |
miraclesteinway wrote: . . . . The house did look empty.The only part of the house that's visible from the Mews is a gable end section of the roof and part of a window below, how were you able to conclude the house is empty. |
| spiralstatic 18.12.2018 14:24 |
Queenbuzz compared to houses in the US Garden Lodge is not large! Probably not even average in terms of size? At least I have family who live in Allentown & their house is huuuuuuugggeee & has acres of land. No one has that, especially not in London! |
| spiralstatic 18.12.2018 14:26 |
I mean I say this: you can only see the top bit of the house, so you can’t tell how big it is, but you can assume it’s above a certain size given it’s height & belowa certain size given there’s presumably a fair sized a garden behind the walls too. |
| Dr Magus 18.12.2018 15:47 |
spiralstatic wrote: Queenbuzz compared to houses in the US Garden Lodge is not large! Probably not even average in terms of size? At least I have family who live in Allentown & their house is huuuuuuugggeee & has acres of land. No one has that, especially not in London!The Queen has :D |
| queenbuzz 18.12.2018 18:26 |
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| queenbuzz 18.12.2018 18:38 |
Forgive me, I am not sure how to reply quote on this forum.. Spiralstatic, I live approx 1 1/2 hours from Allentown. Average home size in our neighborhood is 3500 square foot, 1/2 an acre of land. I would say that an average home size for most of my friends is in the 2,000 square foot range. I have seen photos of Roger Taylors home and it seems to be much larger in size than Freddies, I am not sure where that is in relation to Garden Lodge but I would assume Rogers home is more country and GL more city. I have never been to London but probably similar to NYC where real estate is on a smaller scale. |
| FunLovinCriminal 18.12.2018 22:48 |
@ spiralstatic: He at least owned the adjoining mews house, situated next to his conservatory. But to the best of my knowledge, it came back onto the market quite recently again for a ridiculous price. Freddie has supposedly paid half a million quid in the early 80s for the main house and 300.000 fo the mews house a few years later. Garden Lodge is estimated to be worth close to 25 million Pounds these days and the mews house went on sale for 2,5 million, if I remember correctly. All hail to the neocons, these fuckers! |
| spiralstatic 18.12.2018 23:16 |
How can a house be worth 25 million pounds?! Bonkers! And wow, how bizarre that you should live so close. In fact my Aunty & family live a drive way from town and they built their house so it is huge and has loads of land & corn fields and farm and stuff, thus may be bigger than average there - I've no idea - I likely have an incorrect impression of US houses?!?! Obviously very different to brick houses over here. I had no idea where Roger lived, but looked it up and if the place that came up first is right then yep, it's a way outside London. That's on google maps though... which made me feel incredibly wrong for my quick google search. I closed the tab sharpish! Perhaps we should end looking into this any further! |
| queenbuzz 18.12.2018 23:43 |
Spiralstatic, If you are referring to Allentown PA, it is a heck of a coincidence that I live so close! Of all the places for you to mention in the world, lol! |
| FunLovinCriminal 19.12.2018 00:52 |
It is bonkers, indeed! But then, a lot went bonkers in the UK within the last two decades. By the way, Brian May lives not too far away from Garden Lodge these days. On the other end of Kensington High Street, near Holland Park. Jimmy Page and Robbie Williams live nearby as well. Richard Wright lived very near Stafford Terrace. Bryan Ferry owns a townhouse on Freddie's side of Kensington and the Bee Gee's Barry Gibb's London residence is located rather close to Garden Lodge. Warner Music, Sony Music and Universal Music all operate their UK-offices from Kensington and Pink Floyd Music Limited has its offices there as well. We must also not forget that the Queen Of Hearts used to hold court in the palace nearby. So, how can 25 million quid be too much for having the privilege to reside in between that splendid neighborhood? |
| spiralstatic 19.12.2018 07:09 |
Yes, I was responding to you queenbuzz! And the US is very large. Funny the times the world can prove itself smaller than we expect. :) |
| Dr Magus 19.12.2018 11:05 |
I believe Brian's country pad is right next door to the most expensive mansion in the UK. |
| stevelondon20 19.12.2018 15:01 |
Addison Crescent is a very expensive property. Probably not far off the Value of Garden Lodge. |
| akan 19.12.2018 18:17 |
Hi guys, who did tell you Mary does not live there anymore? are there more info about this? I wonder why she could have decided to move. Thanks in advance. |
| FunLovinCriminal 19.12.2018 18:36 |
1st explanation: Mary finally accepted that FM wanted Peter Freestone to live in Garden Lodge. But she can't stand PF, thus she left for FM's New York apartment. 2nd explanation: Mary is allergic to money and wealth, and having suffered from it for far too long, she moved back to the 2-bedroom-apartment she had shared with FM near Victoria Station. 3rd explanation: Mary may have had a sex change. Therefore Mary isn't residing there anymore, but Marius is. 4th explanation: A movie about her is in the pipeline, called „Love Of My Life“. It'll be a biopic and since her popularity will increase once the movie is breaking all records, she has, with foresight, moved someplace else. 5th explanation: It's all bad rumors and she's still residing in cosy Kensington. |
| miraclesteinway 19.12.2018 20:25 |
what I meant, Vocal Harmony, is that when I walked past it at about 8.30pm/9pm in the evening, there seemed to be no light coming from the house, and I simply meant it looked like there was nobody home, it looked quiet. I just meant there seemed to be nobody home. Perhaps I should have phoned first to check.... now what's the number again? |
| Sweetandtenderhooligan 19.12.2018 21:17 |
The house is worth so much because not only is it in London and has 1/3 acre of land, but it's in Kensington. |
| FunLovinCriminal 19.12.2018 21:53 |
Here's an ad for the sale of one of the Logan Mews houses. In the back of the second picture you'll see Freddie's conservatory: link |
| miraclesteinway 20.12.2018 10:58 |
Wasn't that Freddie's at one point too? I have no idea actually I knew he had some of the mews but I don't know how much of it. |
| FunLovinCriminal 20.12.2018 15:44 |
Could be the one Mews-house he owned and reportedly bought for 300.000 quid towards the end of the 80's. |
| Vocal harmony 20.12.2018 15:49 |
miraclesteinway wrote: what I meant, Vocal Harmony, is that when I walked past it at about 8.30pm/9pm in the evening, there seemed to be no light coming from the house, and I simply meant it looked like there was nobody home, it looked quiet. I just meant there seemed to be nobody home. Perhaps I should have phoned first to check.... now what's the number again?Thanks, there are a few possibilities as to why you thought it might be empty, hence my question. Yeah when you remember that number, give it a call ;) |
| miraclesteinway 20.12.2018 18:28 |
Perhaps Mary will invite us on a wee tour of the minstrel gallery? |
| FunLovinCriminal 20.12.2018 22:16 |
Would you go there, if she would?I know it's a highly hypothetical question, but I for one wouldn't want to visit Garden Lodge. Not now. not then. To some it might be a mythical place but it was a place Freddie resided in for a few years. Having lost my most beloved mum three weeks ago, I feel that our place is lacking most of its former spirit, because her beautiful soul is gone. The question you might rightly ask right now is probably, why I am here, posting stuff, when I should grieve. I do grieve. So much that I feel the stupid need to distract myself. Why would I visit Garden Lodge, knowing that the man who once filled the space with his spirit had left for his final tour almost 30 years ago? |
| FunLovinCriminal 20.12.2018 23:02 |
A few weeks ago I came across an interesting lecture by Harvey Goldsmith, the English concert impresario. He was talking about Live Aid, which, to those of you who don 't know, he organized with „Saint Bob“. Subsequently he promoted and organized the UK dates of the Magic Tour, including Knebworth. In his speech he claimed that the downside of Live Aid was the celebrity-culture that it enforced. According to him, before Live Aid the UK red tops only reported about musicians if they were about to get divorced. After Live Aid the sensationalist papers knew they could increase the circulation of their garbage with private stories of pop musicians. There's probably some truth to his remarks. As far as I understood, Freddie actually never really liked to having been treated as a celebrity. He had a huge ego, of course and he needed to be seen and listened to the world over. But I fully appreciate that he wanted to be treated like everybody else and therefore demanded his privacy. It's the sensationalist-cel3brity- Murdoch-moralist-climate that made the „pack of worms“ camp outside Garden Lodge once word got out that Freddie had been ill. I am not sure what people get out of going there to see the place. Feel close to Freddie? He had left a long time ago and the place is not a museum. Or are people expecting Brian May to take the dog out for a walk down memory lane, walking by Garden Lodge? |