Hans Place

Hans Place (usually pronounced /ˈhænz/ HANZ) is a garden square in the Knightsbridge district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, immediately south of Harrods in SW1.

It is named after Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, PRS (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), physician and collector, notable for his bequest, which became the foundation of the British Museum.

The 1862 Ordnance Survey, for example, shows that none of the houses had been extended over the gardens, and annual directories record good tenancies with no obvious gaps during which major works might have been undertaken.

Most of the 18th-century houses in Hans Place were substantially rebuilt by Cadogan Estates when new leases were arranged in the late 19th century, adopting a style that became so closely associated with the district that Osbert Lancaster dubbed it "Pont Street Dutch".

Hans Place was the scene of a murder in 1983, when actor Peter Arne was battered to death in his flat, apparently by an Italian vagrant who committed suicide shortly afterwards.

International business executives, and the super-rich, are particularly attracted to Hans Place because it is the garden square with the closest proximity to Harrods, and the best shopping in Sloane Street, Chelsea, and Belgravia.