30 Royal Avenue, Chelsea, SW3

The Vestry, 120 King’s Road, opposite Royal Avenue, was Thomas Crapper, Sanitary Engineer, seen in the opening credits of 1963’s The Servant, in front of which creepily camp gentleman’s gentleman Hugo Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) is first seen.

He’s headed for the house where he ostensibly serves, but actually destroys, dissipated aristo Tony (James Fox), 30 Royal Avenue. It’s opposite the one-time home of W Somerset Maugham, uncle of Robin Maugham, author of The Servant. Pictures were borrowed from the Maugham residence for the film, to give Tony’s home a suitably ‘homocentric’ atmosphere. No, I don't know either.

Director Joseph Losey was clearly impressed with the area, living directly opposite, at 29 Royal Avenue, from 1966 until his death in 1984.

The Servant (1963, dir: Joseph Losey)