23-24 Leinster Gardens (dummy houses) (London)

United Kingdom / England / London / Leinster Terrace, 24
 house, ventilating shaft

In the days when the Underground was worked by steam engines, locomotives were fitted with condensers to retain smoke and steam so as to avoid suffocating passengers and to keep the tunnels free from smoke and soot. These condensers required 'venting off' every few miles for which some sections of track needed to be open to the air.

Ons such section was in the middle of a terraced row of houses at Leinster Gardens, directly above the Metropolitan and District Line. The shaft required the demolition of two adjacent houses, numbers 23 and 24. To hide the unsightly practice of venting from residents and to maintain the appearance of the terrace, the railway company built a concrete facade which was decorated to look like the surrounding occupied houses. These 'dummy houses' look virtually identical to any other house on the street, apart from the blackened-out windows.

There is a long history of pranksters sending charity collectors, pizza deliverers, taxi cabs and religious representatives to the 'dummy houses': in the 1930s, a hoax was played on guests who were sold ten-Guinea tickets to a charity ball here, only to turn up in evening dress to discover the address was fake.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   51°30'45"N   -0°11'1"E

Comments

  • Any genuine London Cabby (aka black cab drivers) will know that these are fake addresses. I have only been there once to take a film crew there who were making a documentry about the square in general. Mioni cab drivers however are a constant source of amusement for hoaxers
This article was last modified 8 years ago