Holland Park

Holland Park stands on what was once the grand estate of a Jacobean mansion called Holland House. Built in sixteen hundred and five by Sir Walter Cope, the original mansion was known as Cope Castle and hosted royal figures like King James the First. The park’s transformation from a private aristocratic retreat into a public space followed the destruction of the house during the Blitz, when German incendiary bombs left the structure a hollow shell. Today, the surviving east wing of that mansion remains standing as a silent reminder of the estate’s former prominence.