Dolphin Square 4.26

Dolphin Square is a block of private flats and business complex built near the River Thames in Pimlico, London, between 1935 and 1937. At one time, the huge development was home to more than 70 MPs, and at least 10 Lords.At the time of its construction the development of 1,250 up-market flats was billed by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as the "largest self-contained block of flats in Europe" and, to an extent, their design has been a model for later municipal developments.HistoryThe Dolphin Square development is situated on the former works of the developer and builder Thomas Cubitt, who created the surrounding Pimlico district in the 19th-century. An Army clothing factory was built on the site after Cubitt's death, standing until 1933, when the leasehold on the site reverted to the Duke of Westminster. An American company, the Frederick French Corporation, bought the freehold for the site from the Duke, with plans to build a large residential development, Ormonde Court. The precarious financial situation of the Frederick French Corporation resulted in the sale of the site to Richard Rylands Costain (founder of the nascent Costain Group), who began construction on his own development in 1935.