"Nowadays, Chelsea is renowned for its fine architecture, clothes, antiques, restaurants, bars and theatre. Less ephemeral are the majestic Royal Hospital and the much loved Physic Garden. Today Chelsea is centred upon the King's Road, but in the 16th century, when the first big mansions were built, it was a riverside village, dependent upon boats for supplies and visitors." "In the nineteenth century, as the King's road was freed for use and development, the village shifted northwards, with the building of attractive squares and streets. It became for a long period synonymous with the arts, boasting Rossetti, Whistler, Augustus John and Oscar Wilde among its many luminaries." "This new book explores the history of Chelsea as a town right up to the present with the opening of the Duke of York's Square."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved