South Kensington has two parts. One starts near South Kensington tube station and then runs west between Old Brompton Road and Fulham Road. The second part runs between Cromwell Road and Old Brompton Road. The first part starts just east of South Kensington tube station, between Brompton Road and Cromwell with the Thurloe Estate, consisting mainly of Thurloe Square, Alexander Square and Thurloe Place, and containing very attractive stucco-faced houses from the 1840s. West of South Kensington tube station is the main part of the old Smiths Charity estate (or the Wellcome Estate as it later became). The most exclusive houses here are in Pelham Crescent, which is a beautiful crescent of terraced houses still mainly in single family occupation. Pelham Place is not quite so exclusive but contains attractive houses from the same era. Development of the estate moved westwards with ‘the Onslows’ - Onslow Square, Onslow Gardens and adjoining streets such as Sumner Place, Cranley Gardens and Cranley Place – which are mainly huge terraced houses, built in a distinctive light-coloured brick, as well as some more typical stucco-faced buildings. This area is now mostly converted into flats. Many of them back onto large communal gardens. The houses were originally built with mews at the back for horses and carriages, and these have also been converted in recent decades into attractive small family houses. These include Cranley Mews and Onslow Mews East and West.

Further west, and the next stage of Victorian building embraced the red brick style, and there are very ornate red brick faced blocks of flats in Evelyn Gardens and Cranley Gardens. That is the end of the Smiths Charity estate. There are then a series of attractive streets with a mixture of formal stucco-faced buildings and smaller family houses and mews properties in Roland Gardens Thistle Grove, and surrounding streets. At Drayton Gardens there are later Victorian mansion blocks with Dutch gables. The Boltons is about the end of the South Kensington area, after which it is more accurately described as Earl’s Court, although some say that West Brompton is an area in itself. The Boltons is considered one of the best addresses in central London. The houses are spectacular and they come with large front and back gardens. The Little Boltons and streets between there and Tregunter Road contain less impressive, but still very desirable, semi-detached houses.

The second part of South Kensington runs between Cromwell Road and Old Brompton Road. Part of Queens Gate stabs through the middle of it, but Queens Gate is essentially part of Kensington itself to the north. This is an area of garden squares. Stanhope Gardens, which runs through the middle of this area, has mainly stucco-faced terraced houses. Clareville Grove contains very sought-after period houses in a quiet area. Hereford Square similarly has stucco faced houses around an attractive square. The style becomes later Victorian red-brick on the west side of Gloucester Road, with Wetherby Gardens Harrington Gardens and Collingham Gardens, to name only a few, built in the late Victorian Dutch style with gables and ornate red brick. Behind the main streets, there are attractive mews such as Laverton Mews and Gaspar Mews, where there are small family houses.