Time Walk
A Family Name, Twice Over
One man named this street twice over for the same family, once through his mother and once through his wife. Pratt Walk today is a short, quiet run of Georgian terraces not far from Lambeth Palace, with old ironwork and balconettes still showing among the houses.
Beneath that brick and ironwork is a piece of 18th-century family history: a landowner naming a new street for his wife's and his mother's shared ancestor. That story waits in the next section.
Name Origin
One Ancestor, Two Descendants
The street was named after the Pratt family, into which its builder had married twice over. Sir Joseph Mawbey bought the copyhold land on which Pratt Walk stands in 1762; before that it had belonged to the Jackson family for the previous century, and when Mawbey acquired it the plot comprised a messuage, barn, stable and four acres of garden.
The Pratt connection ran through both sides of Mawbey's household. His mother, Martha, was the granddaughter of John Pratt, a Colonel on the Parliament side during the Civil War. Mawbey's wife, Elizabeth Pratt, was the same John Pratt's great-granddaughter by another line of the family; she married Joseph Mawbey in 1760.
"Pratt Street, 1775"Tablet formerly on a house at the corner of Pratt Walk and Lambeth Road
The street was Pratt Street until it became Pratt Walk; the Survey of London records the earlier form.
History
What Survived the Centuries
Most of the street's original houses are gone. By the time the Survey of London was compiled in 1951, only Nos. 4-8 remained of the terrace Mawbey's development had raised. That surviving run is built of stock brick, three storeys over a sunk basement, with flat brick arches and windows set in recess. Next to it, Nos. 9-12 form a second terrace, one storey lower, with plain parapets and copings.
Both terraces were given statutory protection in the twentieth century. Nos. 4-8 were listed Grade II on 27 March 1981 as a late 18th or early 19th century terrace, and Nos. 9-12 were listed the same day.
Pratt Walk's builder, Sir Joseph Mawbey, named the street for the same ancestor twice over: both his mother Martha and his wife Elizabeth Pratt descended from John Pratt, a Civil War Colonel on the Parliament side, through two entirely separate family lines.
Culture
Small Details Worth Finding
Look closely and the street still offers a few original flourishes. Two houses keep their first-floor balconettes, with delicate ironwork, and historic iron railings and heritage lamp columns survive along the pavement.
At the Lambeth Road end, the corner is turned by No. 93 Lambeth Road, marking where Pratt Walk meets the wider road it once faced as Pratt Street.
Today
Still the Pratts' Street
Pratt Walk still reads as a short Georgian terrace rather than a rebuilt street. Two runs of listed houses, Nos. 4-8 and Nos. 9-12, carry the brickwork, ironwork and small details the eighteenth-century development left behind. The name itself has not moved far from where Mawbey set it: Pratt Street became Pratt Walk, but the Pratt family it honoured is still the one being named.
On the Map
Pratt Walk Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Pratt Walk?
It was named after the Pratt family. Sir Joseph Mawbey, who bought the land in 1762, descended from John Pratt through his mother, and his wife Elizabeth Pratt was also John Pratt's descendant.
What is Pratt Walk known for?
A short run of Grade II listed Georgian terraces near Lambeth Palace, with surviving ironwork, balconettes and a small ornamental lion at No. 12.
What was Pratt Walk called before?
It was formerly known as Pratt Street; a tablet on a corner house once read "Pratt Street, 1775".
Do any of the original buildings survive?
Yes. By 1951 only Nos. 4-8 of the original terrace remained; both that run and the adjoining Nos. 9-12 were listed Grade II in 1981.