Students of English in the centre of London make sure, if you are invited to a party at 23 or 24 Leinster Gardens W2 close to Paddington railway station, that you don’t go. This is because, although 23 and 24 look as beautiful as the other five-storey houses in the street there are no houses it is just a 1.6-metre facade. The houses were demolished in 1868 to extend the Metropolitan underground line west from Paddington to Bayswater. The Metropolitan line was the first underground railway in the world starting in 1863 and going east from Paddington to Farringdon. The engines were steam powered and so 23-24 Leinster Gardens was left open to the sky so as to release the fumes and prevent the tunnel filling up with smoke and steam.
