Notting Hill Pastel Houses

Notting Hill in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London contains some of the most photographed domestic architecture in Britain — rows of four and five-storey Victorian stucco townhouses painted in ice-cream shades of pink, mint, buttercup, sky blue, and lavender that line streets radiating from the neighbourhood's centre. The colour palette emerged largely in the post-war decades as the neighbourhood, then largely immigrant and working-class, was repainted by successive generations of residents expressing personal taste in the absence of heritage restrictions. The most celebrated streets for colour and photogenic qualities are Westbourne Park Road, Ledbury Road, Lancaster Road, and the stretch of Portobello Road between Notting Hill Gate and Golborne Road. Chepstow Villas and Pembridge Crescent add curved street geometry that enhances the composition. The Portobello Road Market, Europe's largest antique market, operates in full force on Saturdays, when the street fills with stalls selling vintage goods, silverware, prints, and clothing between antique dealers in permanent buildings. The market provides additional colour and energy to the neighbourhood's visual appeal. The Electric Cinema on Portobello Road, opened in 1910 and still operational, is one of London's oldest working cinemas and a neighbourhood landmark. The neighbourhood association with the 1999 film Notting Hill draws visitors specifically to Portobello Road and to the Blue Door on Westbourne Park Road — the fictional home of the Hugh Grant character — though the door has been repainted since filming. Noting Hill Carnival in late August transforms the streets into one of Europe's largest street festivals.