Finsbury Square is a 0.7-hectare (1.7-acre) square in Finsbury in central London which includes a six-rink grass bowling green. [1] It was developed in 1777 on the site of a previous area of green space to the north of the City of London known as Finsbury Fields, in the parish of St Luke's and near Moorfields. It is sited on the east side of City Road, opposite the east side of Bunhill Fields. It is approximately 200m north of Moorgate station, 300m north-west of Liverpool Street station and 400m south of Old Street station. Nearby locations are Finsbury Circus and Finsbury Pavement. Named after it, but several miles away, are Finsbury Park and its eponymous neighbourhood. The centre of the square includes an underground NCP Car Park and two disused petrol stations, also owned by NCP for above-ground commercial parking. Finsbury Square is served by bus routes 21, 43, 141 and 214.
In 1777 Finsbury Square was laid out as a planned quadrangle of terraced town houses surrounding a central garden. [2] Beginning in the late 19th century, the houses began to be demolished to make way for large-scale commercial properties.
Past residents of the square include Pascoe Grenfell Hill, Thomas Southwood Smith and Philip Henry Pye-Smith. It has also been the site of the Temple of the Muses, the bookshop of James Lackington and the first home of the rabbinical seminary that became the London School of Jewish Studies (1855–81), of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Sophia and of the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary Moorfields (1820–1900). [3]
From 1907 to 1914, [4] 39 Finsbury Square was the home of the City of London Yeomanry. [5] The site is now occupied by City Gate House which was designed by Frederick Gould and Giles Gilbert Scott and completed in 1930. [6]
In 1784, Vincenzo Lunardi achieved the first successful hot air balloon flight in England from the adjacent Artillery Ground. [7]
The south side of the square was known as Sodomites Walk in the 18th century and was notorious as a gay cruising area. [8]
On 22 October 2011, Occupy London protesters began to camp on the square. [9] They were subsequently removed in an eviction described by the council as 'peaceful and low key'. [10]
In January 2013, the University of Liverpool announced that its London Campus would be at 33 Finsbury Square. [11]
Also in 2013 a memorial was installed at the SW of the square commemorating those who died in the 1975 Moorgate tube crash. [12]
On the west side of the square, 10 Finsbury Square is a 150,000 sq ft office building [13] built in 2014. [14] It is occupied by the London Metal Exchange.
The north side of the square is largely occupied by Triton Court at 14–18 Finsbury Square, a steel-frame constructed office building originally built during the first three decades of the twentieth century, along with Royal London House (22–25 Finsbury Square) which dates from the 1950s.
The east of the square is occupied by Grant Thornton accountants and auditors at 30 Finsbury Square, and the University of Liverpool in London at 33 Finsbury Square. In November 2019, City, University of London announced that it had acquired 33 Finsbury Square on a lease. The university's Bayes Business School (formerly Cass Business School) will occupy the building, as well as significantly remodelling its Bunhill Row campus. [15]
The south of the square is City Gate House, 39–45 Finsbury Square.
Finsbury Square is also the venue for an occasional farmers' market. [16]
The buildings on the north side of the square were built over the first half of the twentieth century to serve as headquarters for what is now the Royal London Group; collectively they were known as Royal London House. The oldest (westernmost) section (with its cupola and clock on the corner with City Road) dates from 1904 to 1905 and was built by John Belcher as headquarters for the Royal London Friendly Society; over the next ten years this building was extended eastwards by four bays. The adjacent, taller section, with its prominent tower-cum-spire, dates from 1929 to 1930; it was built by Belcher's former partner, J. J. Joass, to form an expanded headquarters for the Royal London Mutual Assurance Society. (A contemporary extension to the north of the Edwardian block was also built by Joass.) Finally, the whole complex was extended eastwards again in the 1950s with the addition of a block by the architect H. Bramhill. [2]
In the 1980s, the older (pre-1940s) buildings were all comprehensively redeveloped, by Sheppard Robson & Partners, to form a new office complex: Triton Court. The interiors were gutted and rebuilt, but the façades were retained, albeit with the addition of a double-height mansard roof and the insertion of a new entrance arch through the four-bay extension to the original Edwardian block. These are now the only remaining pre-World War II buildings in the square. After the completion of Triton Court, the 1950s block alone was left with the designation Royal London House. [2]
In 2013–15, Triton Court was developed by Resolution Property into Alphabeta, a 220,000 sq ft office block. [17] This was sold to Indonesian real estate conglomerate Sinar Mas Land in 2015. [18]
At around the same time the 1950s block, Royal London House, was converted into The Montcalm Hotel (completed in 2016). [19]
Clerkenwell is an area of central London, England.
Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the southeastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London.
City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of London's first bypass, the New Road from Paddington to Islington, which was constructed in 1756. The City Road was built in 1761 as a continuation of that route to the City of London.
Moorgate is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station on Moorgate in the City of London. Main line railway services for Hertford, Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage are operated by Great Northern, while the Underground station is served by the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Northern lines.
Old Street is an interchange station at the junction of Old Street and City Road in Central London for London Underground and National Rail services.
Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning of Ermine Street, the ancient road running from London to York (Eboracum). The gate was rebuilt twice in the 15th and 18th centuries, but was permanently demolished in 1760.
Moorgate was one of the City of London, England's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall.
Moorfields was an open space, partly in the City of London, lying adjacent to – and outside – its northern wall, near the eponymous Moorgate. It was known for its marshy conditions, the result of the defensive wall acting as a dam, impeding the flow of the River Walbrook and its tributaries.
Citypoint is a building located on Ropemaker Street on the northern fringe of the City of London, the main financial district and historic nucleus of London.
Drayton Park is a National Rail station in Highbury, in the London Borough of Islington. It is on the Northern City Line between Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park stations, 2 miles 56 chains (4.3 km) down the line from ‹See TfM›Moorgate; it is in Travelcard Zone 2.
Finsbury Pavement is a short length of street in England connecting Moorgate with City Road in the London Borough of Islington. It forms a part of the London Inner Ring Road, and before the introduction of the ring of steel around the City of London it formed a major through-route towards London Bridge and south London.
St Luke's is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Islington. It lies just north of the border with the City of London near the Barbican Estate, and the Clerkenwell and Shoreditch areas.
Squares have long been a feature of London and come in numerous identifiable forms. The landscaping spectrum of squares stretches from those with more hardscape, constituting town squares —to those with communal gardens, for which London is a major international exponent, known as garden squares. London's largest privately-owned square is Vincent Square, in Westminster, which comprises 13 acres.
Finsbury Circus is a park in the Coleman Street Ward of the City of London, England. The 2 acre park is the largest public open space within the City's boundaries.
Bunhill Row is a street located in St Luke's, London Borough of Islington, London. The street runs north–south from Old Street to Chiswell Street. On the east side are the cemetery of Bunhill Fields and the open space of the Honourable Artillery Company's Artillery Ground.
Charterhouse Square is a garden square, a pentagonal space, in Farringdon, in the London Borough of Islington, and close to the former Smithfield Meat Market. The square is the largest courtyard or yard associated with the London Charterhouse, mostly formed of Tudor and Stuart architecture restored after the London Blitz. The square adjoins other buildings including a small school. It lies between Charterhouse Street, Carthusian Street and the main Charterhouse complex of buildings south of Clerkenwell Road. The complex includes a Chapel, Tudor Great Hall, Great Chamber, the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry and a 40-resident almshouse.
Coleman Street is one of the 25 ancient wards of the City of London, England, and lies on the City's northern boundary with the London Borough of Islington.
King's Square is an open area in the city centre of York, England. It is popular with tourists, who are often entertained by buskers and street performers. Nikolaus Pevsner notes that "the square has trees, which distinguishes it". The York's Chocolate Story attraction lies on the western side of the square.
Blomfield Street is a road in the City of London, close to Liverpool Street railway station. It was known as Broker Row, until 1860.
Russell Court is a modernist apartment block in Woburn Place, in the Bloomsbury district of London, on the corner with Coram Street, just north of Russell Square. It was designed by George Val Myer and Francis Watson-Hart on an L-shaped plan with a curved recess on the corner and a motor garage below. It is one of a number of large apartment blocks built in London in the 1930s and has 501 small "bachelor flats" intended for students and people of modest means. Today, the freehold of the property is collectively owned by the flat leaseholders.