Notting Hill: terraces and the market street

Look past the paint

Pastel houses are an easy introduction to Notting Hill, but colour is only one part of a terrace. Start with the repeated openings: windows above windows, doorways meeting the pavement, a roofline carrying the sequence along the street. A terrace joins separate homes into a larger composition. Small differences become more visible once you have noticed what repeats.

In our illustration a bicycle and wet pavement bring the frontage down to a human scale. The picture does not identify a particular address, and its colours are an artist’s choices. Use it as a prompt to look at the relationship between one house and its neighbours. A change in window proportions or the level of an entrance can be more revealing than another attractive patch of paint.

A district of different streets

The Royal Borough’s conservation-area descriptions distinguish several neighbourhoods within this part of London. Colville, subsequently known as the Portobello Estate, was mainly developed between 1860 and 1875. The Ladbroke area has a predominantly Victorian and Edwardian character. The wider name “Notting Hill” gathers together streets with different development histories.

That is a useful correction to an overly uniform mental picture. A row of houses can illustrate one kind of residential frontage without representing every street in the district. When looking at a real building, consult the relevant conservation-area record before assigning it a date or describing its features as typical. The map helps connect a visible street to a documented area.

Source: the borough’s conservation-area descriptions and maps.

Portobello’s trading history

The council describes Portobello and Golborne Road Market as having a history reaching back to the nineteenth century. Its account of the area places the market within a diverse local community. This is a street with a trading history as well as a familiar visitor image; residential frontages alone cannot explain that part of its character.

For a market scene, notice how temporary displays change the scale of a street. Goods can occupy the space close to the eye while the upper floors continue the architectural rhythm overhead. Our residential illustration does not show a documented market layout. Comparing the two kinds of view is more useful than pretending the picture contains everything the neighbourhood is known for.

Source: the council’s account of Portobello and Golborne Road Market.

What rain changes in a picture

Wet pavement can make the lower part of a scene darker and more reflective. In an illustration, those choices guide the eye towards the brighter frontage above it. Look for the boundary between the pavement and the house: it gives the colour somewhere to begin. The bicycle supplies another distinct shape, interrupting the repetition without taking over the whole composition.

These are observations about the artwork, rather than a weather report or a promise of a quiet street. If you visit, leave room for the neighbourhood’s ordinary activity and consult official information for market arrangements. We have no Notting Hill camera. For a different illustrated waterside rhythm, continue to Little Venice and its canal junction.