This is a list of garden squares, broadly defined, in London, England. Unlike the list at Squares in London, which partially overlaps, these places all have a clear communal garden element and may be named other than Square; commonly in order, Gardens, Crescent, Place, Fields and Circus reflecting the diversity of the city's complex street layout. Non-square instances are only in this list if strongly, inherently notable for architecture, use or size – a common selectivity in the study of the history and use of such spaces.
The list deliberately avoids many similar public greens, verges and crescents outside of Central London. So too the few large public green places (commons or parks) away from the City which are not shrouded by six-foot (or more) walls even if faced conspicuously by buildings.
Some officially named 'Square' (streets and/or spaces) in London are triangular or a circle (circus). For instance Walcot Square and Wilton Square are triangular, Hanover Square is an oval as to the garden, many are very elongated rectangles such as Bryanston Square — thus the London internal communal garden or park fronted by buildings, is not confined to squares of the main dictionary definition. Truest garden squares meet the recognisable criteria of a shared internal zone, faced chiefly by buildings' fronts having one or more open approach ways, so are not beholden to legal name nor precise shape.
Garden courtyards are commonly omitted from this list, for having been intuitively named 'Gardens' or 'Garden Apartments', or for a communal garden which is not large enough to meet traditional definitions of garden squares and so is unlikely to open for open-day visits.
Several items at Squares in London, a list of places named "... Square", have lost a shared hemmed-in zone with multi-estate neighbouring buildings, removing their square status, and making them town squares, remnants in name only, or private courtyards.
Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the southeastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London.
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteristics are understood to include a high-density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally, nationally and internationally significant organisations and facilities.
Cities of London and Westminster is a constituency returning a single Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons in the United Kingdom Parliament. As with all constituencies, the election is decided using the first past the post system of election. From its creation at the 1950 general election to the 2024 general election, the constituency had always elected the candidate nominated by the Conservative Party.
The region of Greater London, including the City of London, is divided into 75 parliamentary constituencies which are sub-classified as borough constituencies, affecting the type of electoral officer and level of expenses permitted. Since the general election of July 2024, 59 are represented by Labour MPs, 9 by Conservative MPs, 6 by Liberal Democrat MPs, and 1 by an independent MP.
The London Borough of Islington is short of large parks and open spaces, given its status in recent decades as a desirable place of residence. In fact, Islington has the lowest ratio of open space to built-up areas of any London borough. The largest continuous open space in the borough, at 11.75 hectares, is Highbury Fields.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, an Inner London borough, has responsibility for some of the parks and open spaces within its boundaries. Most of them are relatively small: many are the typical London square, built to service the houses around that square. Two of the larger open spaces both form part of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries, being those at Brompton and Kensal Green. The parks are policed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Parks Police.
The Finsbury Division was one of four divisions of the Hundred of Ossulstone, in the historic county of Middlesex, England. The area of the Finsbury Division is now the core of modern north London. The other divisions were named Holborn, Kensington and Tower. Ossulstone hundred was divided in the seventeenth century, with each of the four divisions replacing the hundred for most administrative purposes.
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.
Below is a list of sheriffs of the County of London, from the creation of the county in 1889 to its abolition in 1965:
The Royal Crescent is a Grade II* listed street in Holland Park, west London, England, consisting of two curved facing terraces in a crescent shape. The crescent is located on the north side of Holland Park Avenue, west of Addison Avenue, and to the east of the Holland Park Roundabout. St Ann's Villas leads north off the Crescent.
Park Crescent is at the north end of Portland Place and south of Marylebone Road in London. The crescent consists of elegant stuccoed terraced houses by the architect John Nash, which form a semicircle. The crescent is part of Nash's and wider town-planning visions of Roman-inspired imperial West End approaches to Regent's Park. It was originally conceived as a circus (circle) to be named Regent's Circus but instead Park Square was built to the north. The only buildings on the Regent's Park side of the square are small garden buildings, enabling higher floors of the Park Crescent buildings to have a longer, green northern view.
Wilton Crescent is a street in Belgravia, 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.
Powis Square is a garden square and locality in Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. The closest London Underground station to the square is Westbourne Park tube station.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the city known as London: