The Russian House, The Vale, 2012

The Vale is a street in Chelsea, London.

It runs roughly north to south, from a junction with Elm Park Road and Elm Park Gardens (effectively its northern continuation) to a t-junction in the south where it meets the King's Road.

In December 2022, it was reckoned to be the eighth most expensive street in England.[1]

Most of the west side, 3-29 The Vale is grade II listed.[2] This includes no 27, The Russian House, the facade of which is a Russian dacha built for a "turn-of-the-century exhibition" at The Crystal Palace between 1890 and 1900, then bought by the architect F. E. Williams, then relocated, transformed and extended from c. 1911 to c. 1913.[3][4] It was listed for sale in 2016 at £16 million.[3]

Henry Tonks, the artist and surgeon lived at no 1 from 1910 until his death in 1937.[5][6] His 1928–1929 painting Saturday Night in the Vale was bought by Sir William Orpen in 1929 and bequeathed to Tate in 1932.[7] It depicts George Moore reading aloud from his novel Aphrodite in Aulis to an audience of St John Hutchinson, his wife Mary Hutchinson, Philip Wilson Steer, and Tonks.[7]

References

  1. ^ Neate, Rupert (21 December 2022). "Easy street: these are the most expensive streets in the UK". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  2. ^ Historic England. "3-29, The Vale SW3 (Grade II) (1031506)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  3. ^ a b Hearn, Adrian (21 May 2015). "This is what £16million gets you in Chelsea". Evening Standard.
  4. ^ https://assets.savills.com/properties/GBSSHSSLH180026/SLH180026_SLH18001116.PDF[bare URL]
  5. ^ "Henry Tonks, Vale Studio, 1 The Vale, Chelsea, to Clausen | Archives | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk.
  6. ^ "Henry Tonks at the Vale: Head of Tonks, dead, 1937 (pencil on paper)". www.bridgemanimages.com.
  7. ^ a b "'Saturday Night in the Vale', Henry Tonks, 1928–9". Tate.

51°29′09″N 0°10′32″W / 51.48572°N 0.17567°W / 51.48572; -0.17567