Bloomsbury Square | |
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Type | Garden square |
Location | London, WC1 United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°31′08″N0°7′22″W / 51.51889°N 0.12278°W Coordinates: 51°31′08″N0°7′22″W / 51.51889°N 0.12278°W |
Area | 0.5 hectares (1.24 acres) [1] |
Created | Early 1660s |
Public transit access | ![]() |
Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Bedford House along the north of the square had been demolished and replaced with terraced housing designed by James Burton. [1]
To the north of the square is Great Russell Street and Bedford Place, leading to Russell Square. To the south is Bloomsbury Way. To the west is the British Museum and Holborn is the nearest underground station to the southeast. There are gardens in the centre of the square.
The square was developed for the 4th Earl of Southampton in the early 1660s [1] and was initially known as Southampton Square. It was one of the earliest London squares. [2] The Earl's own house, then known as Southampton House and later as Bedford House after the square and the rest of the Bloomsbury Estate passed by marriage from the Earls of Southampton to the Dukes of Bedford, occupied the whole of the north side of the square, where Bedford Place is now located. [3] The other sides were lined with typical terraced houses of the time, which were initially occupied by members of the aristocracy and gentry.
On 9 April 1694 Bloomsbury Square was the setting for an infamous duel. The then 23-year-old Scottish economist and financier John Law fought Edward 'Beau' Wilson, killing him with a single pass and thrust of his sword. [4] Law would be convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but would escape his condemned cell and go on to become the founder of the Mississippi Company and the de facto prime minister of France. [4]
By the early 19th century, Bloomsbury was no longer fashionable with the upper classes. Consequently, the Duke of Bedford of the day moved out of Bedford House, which was demolished and replaced with further terraced houses. In the 19th century the square was occupied mainly by middle class professionals. The writer Isaac D'Israeli lived at No. 6 from 1817 to 1829 and for part of that time his son, the future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli lived with him. In the 20th century most of the buildings came to be used as offices.
Bloomsbury Square's garden contains a bronze statue by Richard Westmacott of Charles James Fox, who was a Whig associate of the Dukes of Bedford. None of the original 17th-century buildings survive, but there are many handsome 18th- and early 19th-century houses. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was based in an 18th-century building on the southern side of the square partly credited to John Nash. The eastern side of the square is occupied by a large early 20th-century office building called Victoria House, built for, and for many decades occupied by, Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society. The garden is open to the public and was refurbished in 2003.
The garden is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [5]
Other squares on the Bedford Estate in Bloomsbury included:
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, itself known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. Almost exactly square, to the north is Woburn Place and to the south-east is Southampton Row. Russell Square tube station sits to the north-east.
Tavistock Square is a public square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden.
Gordon Square is a public park square in Bloomsbury, London, England. It is part of the Bedford Estate and was designed as one of a pair with the nearby Tavistock Square. It is owned by the University of London.
Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, KG, styled Lord Wriothesley before 1624, was an English statesman, a staunch supporter of King Charles II who after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 rose to the position of Lord High Treasurer, which term began with the assumption of power by the Clarendon Ministry. He "was remarkable for his freedom from any taint of corruption and for his efforts in the interests of economy and financial order," a noble if not completely objective view of his work as the keeper of the nation's finances. He died before the impeachment of Lord Clarendon, after which the Cabal Ministry took over government.
Bedford Square is a garden square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England.
Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s. Most of the houses were occupied by 1840. The square takes its name from one of the Duke of Westminster's subsidiary titles, Viscount Belgrave. The village and former manor house of Belgrave, Cheshire, were among the rural landholdings associated with the main home and gardens of the senior branch of the family, Eaton Hall. Today, many embassies occupy buildings on all four sides.
Euston Square is a large square in the London Borough of Camden in Central London. It lies on Euston Road, and Euston railway station and Euston bus station are on its northernmost side. Although “Euston Square” strictly refers to the square, in day to day use the name is often used to refer to Euston Square tube station, whose entrance is at the junction of Euston Road and North Gower Street. The southern half of the square was built over in the 1920s, leaving Euston Square Gardens on the north side in front of Euston station.
Long Acre is a street in the City of Westminster in central London. It runs from St Martin's Lane, at its western end, to Drury Lane in the east. The street was completed in the early 17th century and was once known for its coach-makers, and later for its car dealers.
Chenies Palace in the parish of Chenies in Buckinghamshire, England, is a Tudor Grade I listed building once known as Chenies Manor House, although it was never a royal seat nor the seat of a bishop. It was held by the Cheney family since 1180 and passed by marriage successively to the Semark and Sapcote families and thence in 1526 to the Russell family, Earls of Bedford, later Dukes of Bedford, by whom it was held for several centuries. Although the Russells soon abandoned Chenies as its main seat in favour of Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, Chenies parish church remains the site of the private "Bedford Chapel", the mausoleum still in use by that family.
Lieutenant-Colonel James Burton was the most successful property developer of Regency and of Georgian London, in which he built over 3000 properties in 250 acres. The 21st century Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contends that Burton was 'the most successful developer in late Georgian London, responsible for some of its most characteristic architecture'.
Wilton Crescent is a street in central London, comprising a sweeping elegant terrace of Georgian houses and the private communal gardens that the semi-circle looks out upon. The houses were built in the early 19th century and are now Grade II listed buildings. The street is the northern projection of Belgravia and is often taken to fall into the category of London's garden squares.
The Bedford Estate is an estate in central London owned by the Russell family, which holds the peerage title of Duke of Bedford. The estate was originally based in Covent Garden, then stretched to include Bloomsbury in 1669. The Covent Garden property was sold for £2 million in 1913 by Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who sold his option to the Beecham family for £250,000; the sale was finalised in 1918.
Cleveland Street in central London runs north to south from Euston Road (A501) to the junction of Mortimer Street and Goodge Street. It lies within Fitzrovia, in the W1 post code area. Cleveland Street also runs along part of the border between Bloomsbury (ward) which is located in London Borough of Camden, and West End (ward) and Marylebone High Street (ward) in the City of Westminster. In the 17th century, the way was known as the Green Lane, when the area was still rural, or Wrastling Lane, after a nearby amphitheatre for boxing and wrestling.
The coat of arms of the London Borough of Camden were granted on 10 September 1965. The borough was formed by the merger of three former boroughs, namely the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead, the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn and the Metropolitan Borough of St. Pancras, from whose arms elements were utilised in the arms of the new borough.
In British usage, the term townhouse originally referred to the town or city residence, in practice normally in London, of a member of the nobility or gentry, as opposed to their country seat, generally known as a country house or, colloquially, for the larger ones, stately home. The grandest of the London townhouses were stand-alone buildings, but many were terraced buildings.
Chenies Street is a street in Bloomsbury, London, that runs between Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street. It is the location of a number of notable buildings such as Minerva House, the Drill Hall, and a memorial to The Rangers, 12th County of London Regiment. North Crescent starts and ends on the northern side of Chenies Street.
This is a list of the etymology of street names in the London district of Bloomsbury. The following utilises the generally accepted boundaries of Bloomsbury viz. Euston Road to the north, Gray's Inn Road to the east, New Oxford Street, High Holborn, Southampton Row and Theobald's Road to the south and Tottenham Court Road to the west.
Bedford House was the Elizabethan and Jacobean London home of the Russell family, Earls of Bedford, situated on the Strand.
Media related to Bloomsbury Square at Wikimedia Commons