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SPOTLIGHT ONMAIDAVALE

A GRAND UN ON.Canasoe Maida Vale has gone from postwargrim to serious glamour with its restoredstucco mansions, discovers Anthea Masey-- ••••--HEviewalongtheGrand

Union Canal in MaidaVale's Little Venice isone of London's idyllicscenes. Thewaterway islined with picturesqueold canal boats,' someoverflowingwith colour-

fulwindow boxes and hanging baskets,others crammed with growbags sprout-ing tomatoes and lettuce. The creamy-coloured stucco houses overlookingthecanal in Blomfield Road and MaidaAvenue, and in nearby roads such asWarwick Avenue, Clifton Gardens,Clifton Villasand Bristol Gardens, cannow command prices of lJP to £2,000a square foot, which is approaching thevalue of similar houses InHolland Parkand Netting Rill.Sandwiched between Paddington to

the south, Kilburn to the west andnorth, and stjohn's Wood to the east,Maida Vale is also known for its spa-cious mansion flats, wide avenues and.-secret communal gardens. It arrived atits name soon after the Battle ofMaidaagainst the French in Sicily in 1806,when a pub, TheJohn Stuart, Count ofMaida, opened in Edgware Road.This now exclusive quarter has come

a longway since the SecondWorldWar,when many of the houses were brokenup into bedsits and the area gained areputation for prostitution. This was agreat embarrassment to the ChurchComfnissioners who owned the MaidaVale estate, and in the Seventies thecommissioners set about improving thearea by sweeping away the bedsits andconverting the houses into spaciousfamily flats. These homes were latersold to private buyers, paving the wayfor the area's regeneration.

PROPERTYThe large stucco houses exude anaura ofgreat wealth but at least 85 percent of allMaidaVale's properties areflats, either spacious conversions or inthe mansion blocks.

STAVING POWERIt's variable. Some'people whoprogress from a one- or two-bedroomflat to a three-bedroom flat often findthey can't then afford a house, andmove out to Queen's Park orChiswick when they have a family.

POSTCODESMaida Vale is almost entirely in W9,except for the little triangle south ofthe canal and west of Edgware Road,which is illW2, the Bayswaterpostcode.

BEST STREETSBlomfield Road and Maida Avenue,which are on opposite sides of thecanal; Randolph Road and RandolphCrescent and Warwick Avenue. The-most beautiful secret communalgardens are between Randolph Roadand Warwick Avenue and betweenRandolph Crescent and WariingtonCrescent. The most expensive housecurrently for Sale is a new-build,double-fronted, seven-bedroomhouse in Randolph Road with accessto the communal garden, which is ohthe market for £25million throughestate agents Ian Green (02075861000).

UP-AND-COMINGMaida Hill, the area betweenShirland Road and Harrow Road,'west of Marylands Road, is still rougharound the edges. There are fewer.grand four- and five-storey housesthere, mainly converted into flats.The three-bedroom ex-councilmaisonettes in Aldsworth Close, withwide balconies overlooking thecanal, sell for between£320,000 and£360,000-and get snapped up fast.

SCHOOLS. Little Sweethearts Montessori schoolin St Saviour's Church hall inWarwick Avenue is a popularnursery. The two top state primary

schools are Stjoseph's RCin LanarkRoad and St Saviour's CofE inShirland Road, both judged 'outstariding by Ofsted ..Neither ofthe two local City Academies -Westminster Academy in Harrow'Road and PaddingtonAcademy in.Marylands Road - do well on theOfsted front, but both are nowhoused in new buildings;Westminster Academy'S award-winning, green-striped premiseswere designed by architects AllfordHall Monaghan Morris. St George'sRC;on the corner of Maida Vale andLanark Road, where headmasterPhilip Lawrence was stabbed todeath iri 1995, does slightly betrer.. King Solomon Academy in PenfoldStreet, on the eastern side ofEdgware Road, is a recently opened