Green Street is a street in Mayfair, London. It has been built up since the mid-18th century, but most of the current properties date from the late 19th and early 20th century. It has had a number of significant residents, including various members of the British aristocracy, the James Bond author Ian Fleming, and the Beatles.
The road runs west to east from Park Lane to North Audley Street via Dunraven Street and Park Street, and is part of the Grosvenor Estate. It is presumed to be named after a local builder, John Green, who worked in the area until he was accidentally killed in 1737, when he fell down a well in nearby Upper Grosvenor Street. [1]
Some building had begun on Green Street in the 1720s, but the entire road took some time to fully develop owing to a building slump in the late 1730s and throughout the 1740s, and was not completely built up until the 1760s. Unlike some local streets in Mayfair, it was not initially considered a fashionable or desirable address. [1] [2]
Only one mid-18th-century property survives into the 21st century; Hampden House at Nos. 60–61, which was originally two houses. The architect Roger Morris lived at No. 61 from 1730 until his death in 1749. The name is derived from the Hampden family, who took ownership of the two properties in 1756 and extensively rebuilt and modified them to give the current single property. [1]
From 1882 to the early 1920s, the remainder of Green Street was demolished and rebuilt, predominantly in redbrick or terracotta backed houses. The Grosvenor Office allocated a communal garden on the south side of the street, which lies between Park Street and Dunraven Street. [1] Nos. 2–11 were constructed between 1891 and 1895, all but one by Matthews, Rogers and Company and designed by Maurice Charles Hulbert. The exception was No. 10 which was built for St John Brodrick (the future Earl of Midleton) and designed by Balfour and Turner. Nos. 25–31, architect Robert William Edis, constructed between 1891 and 1894. The properties were built in four stages in conjunction with development on the adjoining Park Street; No. 25 did not begin redevelopment until 1893, two years after work started on No. 26. [3]
No. 32 was designed for Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale by Sidney R. J. Smith and constructed between 1897 and 1899. [1] It replaced a group of 18th-century buildings on Green Street and north along Dunraven Street. Smith was chosen as architect owing to his work on the Tate Gallery, which was then under construction. The house was built using Portland stone dressings and Westmorland slate, and included a white marble staircase with a wrought iron balustrade. In 1931, Queen Mary (consort of George V) suggested the house should be available as a royal residence for her daughter Mary, Princess Royal and son-in-law Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood. The Princess and Earl lived at the house until the outbreak of World War II, and the house was sold back to the Grosvenor Estate in 1946. [3] It subsequently became the offices of the Brazilian Embassy. [4] In 2011, the embassy was sold to private development for £40 million. [5]
The south side of Green Street between Dunraven Street and Park Street was redeveloped in the 1910s, under the direction of Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster. Most of the properties were rebuilt between 1912 and 1916, with the exception of Nos. 36–37 and 47 at either end of this block, which were reconstructed in the 1920s. Nos. 36–37 were built for the merchant Sir Percy Newson. [6]
The poet and author William Blake lived at No. 23 Green Street from 1782 to 1784. [4] The wit, writer and Anglican cleric, Sydney Smith, lived at No. 56, and died there in 1845. [2] [7] By 1862, the obstetrician Gustavus Murray was living in Green Street, where he also had his consulting rooms. [8]
The politician, sportsman and future Secretary of State for the Colonies, Alfred Lyttelton lived at No. 4 Green Street from 1893 to 1895. The Admiral Edward Southwell Sotheby lived at No. 26 between 1894 and his death in 1902. Henry Parnell, 4th Baron Congleton lived at No. 28 between 1902 and his death four years later. His son, the 5th Baron subsequently lived there until his death in 1914, and was succeeded by his brother, the 6th Baron who lived there until 1925. [3] The James Bond author Ian Fleming was born at No. 27 on 28 May 1908, [9] while the first class cricketer Anthony Lawrence grew up on Green Street in the 1910s. [10]
The tobacco manufacturer Sir Louis Baron lived at No. 57 Green Street from 1915 to 1930. [6] The aircraft designer and manufacturer Sir Thomas Sopwith lived at No. 46 from 1934 to 1940. [4] A blue plaque now commemorates his time there. [11]
Most of the houses on Green Street were divided into flats during the 20th century. [1] When the Beatles first arrived in London in 1963, they stayed at the Hotel President in Bloomsbury before taking a lease on an apartment at No. 57, and this was the only London address where all four ever lived together. [12] [13]
The fashion designer Alexander McQueen lived at No. 7 Green Street. In 2010, he died by suicide, hanging himself at his flat. [14] [15] [16]
John Wickham Legg, personal physician to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, lived at No. 47, and his son Leopold Wickham Legg, editor of the Dictionary of National Biography , was born there. [17]
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world.
Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from Mayfair to the east. The road has a number of historically important properties and hotels and has been one of the most sought after streets in London, despite being a major traffic thoroughfare.
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Belgravia is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the longer northern section New Bond Street—a distinction not generally made in everyday usage.
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Savile Row is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society at 1 Savile Row, where significant British explorations to Africa and the South Pole were planned; and more recently, the Apple office of the Beatles at 3 Savile Row, where the band's impromptu final live performance was held on the roof of the building.
Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable residences in the 18th century. In the 20th it had an American and Canadian diplomatic presence, and currently is mixed use, commercial.
Great Marlborough Street is a thoroughfare in Soho, Central London. It runs east of Regent Street past Carnaby Street towards Noel Street.
Grosvenor Group Limited is an internationally diversified property group, which traces its origins to 1677 and has its headquarters in London, England. It has a global reach, now in 62 international cities, with offices in 14 of them, operated on behalf of its owners, the Duke of Westminster and his family. It has four regional development and investment businesses and a portfolio of indirect investments. Its sectors include residential, office, retail, industrial, along with hotels.
Brook Street is an axial street in the exclusive central London district of Mayfair. Most of it is leasehold, paying ground rent to and seeking lease renewals from the reversioner, that since before 1800, has been the Grosvenor Estate. Named after the Tyburn that it crossed, it was developed in the first half of the 18th century and runs from Hanover Square to Grosvenor Square. The western continuation is called Upper Brook Street; its west end faces Brook Street Gate of Hyde Park. Both sections consisted of neo-classical terraced houses, mostly built to individual designs. Some of them were very ornate, finely stuccoed and tall-ceilinged, designed by well known architects for wealthy tenants, especially near Grosvenor Square, others exposed good quality brickwork or bore fewer expensive window openings and embellishments. Some of both types survive. Others have been replaced by buildings from later periods.
Coventry Street is a short street in the West End of London, connecting Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square. Part of the street is a section of the A4, a major road through London. It is named after the politician Henry Coventry, secretary of state to Charles II.
The 18th century was a period of rapid growth for London, reflecting an increasing national population, the early stirrings of the Industrial Revolution, and London's role at the centre of the evolving British Empire. By the end of the century nearly one million people lived in London, about one tenth of the population of Great Britain. By 1715, London's population reached an estimated 630,000 people, roughly equaling that of Europe's largest city until that time, Paris. Within a few years London itself was the largest city in Europe, reaching 750,000 people by 1760 and 1 million by the end of the century. The average height of a male Londoner was 5'7¼" (171cm) and the average height of a female Londoner was 5'1¾" (157cm).
Claud Stephen Phillimore, 4th Baron Phillimore was an English architect specialising in larger country houses who succeeded to his family's title in 1990.
Somerset House, was an 18th-century town house on the east side of Park Lane, where it meets Oxford Street, in the Mayfair area of London. It was also known as 40 Park Lane, although a renumbering means that the site is now called 140 Park Lane.
In British usage, the term townhouse originally referred to the opulent town or city residence 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.
South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London. It runs north to south from the southwest corner of Grosvenor Square to Curzon Street.
Dunraven Street is a street in London's Mayfair district. It was laid out in the 1750s as Norfolk Street, and in the 19th century was sometimes known as New Norfolk Street. In 1939, it was renamed Dunraven Street by London County Council, after the fourth Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, a former resident of the street, who had been a member of the LCC.
This is a list of the etymology of street names in the London district of Mayfair, in the City of Westminster. It utilises the generally accepted boundaries of Mayfair viz. Marble Arch/Cumberland Gate and Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the east, Piccadilly to the south and Park Lane to the west.
Citations
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