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Mornington Crescent is a terraced street in Camden Town, Camden, London, England. It was built in the 1820s, on a greenfield site just to the north of central London. Many of the houses were subdivided into flats during the Victorian era, and what was the street's communal garden is now the Carreras Building. Mornington Crescent tube station which opened in 1907, takes its name from the street.
The crescent was named after the Earl of Mornington, brother of the Duke of Wellington. Comprising three curved terraces grouped in a crescent form around communal gardens, the north side of the crescent (numbers 37–46) was constructed first, dating from the 1820s or earlier. With 36 spacious houses suitable for professional people, the crescent was originally surrounded by green fields, enjoying views across open country to the front and rear, yet was conveniently close to town. [1] [2] It was at the southern end of the slightly older Arlington Street, now Arlington Road.
However, the building of the railway line into the Euston terminus, and encroachment from the nearby working class districts of Kings Cross and Camden Town led to a change in the demographics of the area during the Victorian era. More and more, the houses were subdivided into houses of multiple occupancy with flats housing artists and artisans.
The communal gardens of the crescent are occupied by a large Art Deco building, known as the Carreras Building. Originally built as a tobacco factory in 1926–28 by the Carreras Tobacco Company, it is a striking example of early 20th Century Egyptian Revival architecture and a distinctive local landmark, not least because of the large bronze statues of the Egyptian cat god Bastet which adorn the front. In the 1990s the building was restored and converted into an office building and renamed Greater London House. [1] [3]
The crescent has a number of literary and artistic associations. The artist Frank Auerbach has a studio nearby and has often painted the crescent and surrounding area. [4] The crescent was a popular subject of the Camden Town Group; the painter Walter Sickert lived there from 1905, at number 6, [5] [6] and Spencer Gore lived at number 31 from 1909 to 1912. [7] Clarkson Stanfield (a painter friend of Charles Dickens) lived at number 36 from 1834 to 1841. The painter Harden Sidney Melville lived for a time at number 34. [8] Dickens went to a school, Wellington House Academy, on Granby Terrace adjoining Mornington Crescent, after his spell working in a blacking warehouse. [9]
Mornington Crescent is a London Underground station in Somers Town in north west London, named after the nearby street. The station is on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line, between Camden Town and Euston stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.
Camden Town, often shortened to Camden, is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around 2.5 miles (4 km) north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London.
Walter Richard Sickert was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the mid and late 20th century.
Frank Helmut Auerbach was a German-born British painter. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, he became a naturalised British subject in 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, both of whom were early supporters of his work.
Somers Town is an inner-city district in North West London. It has been strongly influenced by the three mainline north London railway termini: Euston (1838), St Pancras (1868) and King's Cross (1852), together with the Midland Railway Somers Town Goods Depot (1887) next to St Pancras, where the British Library now stands. It was named after Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers (1725–1806). The area was originally granted by William III to John Somers (1651–1716), Lord Chancellor and Baron Somers of Evesham.
The Camden Town Group was a group of English Post-Impressionist artists founded in 1911 and active until 1913. They gathered frequently at the studio of painter Walter Sickert in the Camden Town area of London.
Charles Isaac Ginner was a British painter of landscape and urban subjects. Born in the south of France at Cannes, of British parents, in 1910 he settled in London, where he was an associate of Spencer Gore and Harold Gilman and a key member of the Camden Town Group.
Spencer Frederick Gore was a British painter of landscapes, music-hall scenes and interiors, usually with single figures. He was the first president of the Camden Town Group, and was influenced by the Post-Impressionists.
Harold John Wilde Gilman was a British painter of interiors, portraits and landscapes, and a founder-member of the Camden Town Group.
Malcolm Cyril Drummond was an English painter and printmaker, noted for his paintings of urban scenes and interiors. Influenced by the Post-Impressionists and Walter Sickert, he was a member of the Camden Town Group and the London Group.
Cumberland Market was a London market between Regent's Park and Euston railway station. It was built in the early 19th century and was London's hay and straw market for a hundred years until the late 1920s. An arm of the Regent's Canal was built to the market. The market was surrounded by modest housing, and in the early 20th century became an artistic community. The original houses were demolished during and after World War II and it is now a housing estate, known as Regent's Park Estate.
The A400 road is an A road in London that runs from Charing Cross to Archway in North London. It passes some of London's most famous landmarks.
Heinz Baked Beans are a brand of baked beans produced by the H.J. Heinz Company. They have been sold as "Heinz Beanz" in the United Kingdom since 2008.
The Carreras Cigarette Factory is a large art deco building in Camden, London, England. It is noted as a striking example of early 20th Century Egyptian Revival architecture. The building was erected in 1926–28 by the Carreras Tobacco Company owned by the Russian-Jewish inventor and philanthropist Bernhard Baron on the communal garden area of Mornington Crescent, to a design by architects M. E. and O. H. Collins and A. G. Porri. It is 550 feet long, and is mainly white.
Gloucester Crescent is an 1840s Victorian residential crescent in Camden Town in London which from the early 1960s gained a bohemian reputation as “the trendiest street in London” and "Britain's cleverest street" when it became home for many British writers, artists and intellectuals including Jonathan Miller, George Melly, Alan Bennett and Alice Thomas Ellis.
Harrington Square is a garden square in the Camden Town area of London, England. It is located at the northern end of Hampstead Road and next to Mornington Crescent tube station.
Albert Street, London NW1, is a street in Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden, England, near Camden Town station. It includes several listed Grade II listed 19th-century buildings. Some of the houses have had notable former residents and two of them have blue plaques. Although the street is mainly residential, it also includes some offices, a pub, and a museum.
Oakley Square is a crescent-shaped garden square in Somers Town in Central London, close to Mornington Crescent and Camden Town. It is located in the London Borough of Camden and runs roughly northeastwards from Eversholt Street meeting with the southern end of Camden Street on its eastern side.
Jack the Ripper's Bedroom is an oil on canvas painting by German-born British artist Walter Sickert, painted from c. 1906 to 1907. It depicts the darkly lit bedroom of Jack the Ripper, the culprit of at least five of London's Whitechapel murders in 1888.
Mornington Terrace is a street in Camden Town. Located in the London Borough of Camden, it runs southeastwards from Delancey Street following the route of the main line into Euston that runs immediately to its west. At its southern end it becomes Clarkson Row while Mornington Place connects it to Mornington Crescent. Both Mornington Terrace and Place are notable for their surviving Victorian houses.