The Portman Estate, covering 110 acres of Marylebone in London’s West End, was founded in 1532 when the land was first leased to Sir William Portman. [1]
The Portman Estate also has two rural estates in Buckinghamshire and Herefordshire. [2] In addition to its core landlord operation, The Portman Estate runs The Portman Foundation, a charitable trust which supports charities and other causes which are located in or benefit the Marylebone area. [3]
The London Estate in Marylebone covers 110 acres from Edgware Road in the west to beyond Baker Street in the east, and north almost as far as Crawford Street. It covers 68 streets, 650 buildings and four garden squares.
The estate's Chiltern Street was voted “London’s Coolest Street” by Condé Nast Traveler in 2016. [4] Characterised by a row of red brick frontages and a Grade II listed Victorian fire station, the street is now a boutique hotel by American hotelier Andre Balazs; The Chiltern Firehouse.
The Portman Estate owns and manages two farms with very different characteristics. Portman Burtley in Buckinghamshire covers 2,000 acres of farmland and woodland which have an organic beef enterprise of 200 South Devon cattle. Portman Wilmaston in Herefordshire is a 1,000 acre mixed farm of sheep, cattle, arable land and woodland.
The Portman Estate dates back to the 16th century, when Sir William Portman, Lord Chief Justice to King Henry VIII, [5] and originally from Orchard Portman in Somerset, leased 270 acres of the Manor of Lileston (Lisson). He acquired the freehold in 1554, but most of the land remained farmland and meadow until the mid-18th century and the building boom after the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763.
In the 1750s William Baker had leased land from the family to lay out Orchard and Portman Streets, and the north side of Oxford Street. Henry William Portman, a descendant of Sir William, continued the development in 1764 with the creation of Portman Square, with buildings by James Wyatt, Robert Adam and James 'Athenian' Stuart, including Montagu House, built in the north-west corner for the famed literary hostess Elizabeth Montagu and later used by the Portman family as their London town house.
Portman Square was the focus of the new estate and was followed by the building of Manchester Square during the 1770s and Bryanston and Montagu Squares 30 years later. These were laid out by the Estate's architect, James Thompson Parkinson. The area remained largely residential, attracting the prosperous middle class who wanted to live near the centre of London. There were also mews for tradesmen and servants. At the southwest corner of the Estate, where Marble Arch now stands, was the Tyburn gallows, London's principal place of public execution until 1783.
Development of the area north of the Marylebone Road around Dorset Square continued after 1815, and to the North West in Lisson Green, workers’ cottages were built from 1820 to 1840. Many of the original Georgian houses north of Portman Square were redeveloped as mansion blocks, which were let on long leases. This development spread along the major traffic routes of Edgware Road and Baker Street.
In 1948 the Estate, then valued at £10 million, was subject to death duties of £7.6 million on the death of the seventh Viscount Portman, resulting in the sale of all the family's West Country estates as well as the northern part of the London Estate in 1951, and the area around Crawford Street the following year. In the later 1950s and 1960s the Estate collaborated with the developer Max Rayne to redevelop the frontage of Oxford Street and Baker Street, as well as the south and west sides of Portman Square.
| Building | Location | Architect | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home House | 20 Portman Sq. | Robert Adam | 1773-77 |
| Montagu House (destroyed 1941) | 22 Portman Sq. | James Stuart | 1777-1781 |
| Churchill Hotel | 30 Portman Sq. | ||
| Church of the Annunciation | Bryanston St. | Walter Tapper | 1912-13 |
| Wallace Collection (Hertford House) | Manchester Square | 1776-88 | |
| Selfridges | Oxford Street | Daniel Burnham | 1909 |
The Estate is held in trust for the benefit of the wider family, with over 130 beneficiaries. The ancestral title is held by The Viscount Portman who leads the family's management of the Estate through the Estate Trustees and the management company, Portman Settled Estates Limited. [6]
The West End of London is a district of Central London, London, England, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings and entertainment venues, including West End theatres, are concentrated.
Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed by the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel opened in 1847. It is also the site of St Mary's Hospital and the former Paddington Green Police Station.
Marylebone station is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network, it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern terminus of the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham. An accompanying Underground station is on the Bakerloo line, sited between Edgware Road and Baker Street stations in Transport for London's fare zone 1.
The Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone was a metropolitan borough of the County of London from 1900 to 1965. It was based directly on the previously existing civil parish of St Marylebone, Middlesex, which was incorporated into the Metropolitan Board of Works area in 1855, retaining a parish vestry, and then became part of the County of London in 1889.
Viscount Portman, in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 28 March 1873, for the former Lord Lieutenant of Somerset and Liberal Member of Parliament Edward Portman, 1st Baron Portman. He had already been created Baron Portman, of Orchard Portman, on 27 January 1837, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. His son, the second Viscount, represented Shaftesbury and Dorset in the House of Commons as a Liberal. As of 2014, the titles have been held by one of the latter's great-great-grandsons, the tenth Viscount, since 1999.
Bryanston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour 1 mile west of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 925. The village is adjacent to the grounds of Bryanston School, an independent school.
Lisson Grove is a street and district in the City of Westminster, West London. The West End neighbourhood contains a few important cultural landmarks, including Lisson Gallery, Alfies Antique Market, Red Bus Recording Studios, the former Christ Church, now the Greenhouse Centre, Stringers of London and the Seashell of Lisson Grove.
Montagu Square is a garden square in Marylebone, London. It is centred 550 metres north of Marble Arch. It spans 810 feet (250 m) by 150 feet (46 m). and is oriented on an axis of about NNW. Save for No.s 27 to 29 the long sides (NNW-SSE) are Grade II listed residential buildings.
Cadogan Group Limited and its subsidiaries, including Cadogan Estates Limited, are British property investment and management companies that are owned by the Cadogan family, one of the richest families in the United Kingdom. They also hold the titles of Earl Cadogan and Viscount Chelsea, the latter used as a courtesy title by the Earl's eldest son. The Cadogan Group is the main landlord in the west London districts of Chelsea and Knightsbridge, and it is now the second largest of the surviving aristocratic Freehold Estates in Central London, after the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Estate, to which it is adjacent, covering Mayfair and Belgravia.
Portman Square is a garden square in Marylebone, central London, surrounded by townhouses. It was specifically for private housing let on long leases having a ground rent by the Portman Estate, which owns the private communal gardens. It marks the western end of Wigmore Street, which connects it to Cavendish Square to the east.
Henry William Portman was an 18th-century housing developer, the ancestor of the Viscounts Portman.
Marylebone is an area in London, England and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary.
The Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill is a five star hotel located on Portman Square, north of Marble Arch in central London, England. It is owned by The Churchill Group Ltd and is currently operated by Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
Sir William Portman, 6th Baronet FRS was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1661 and 1690.
The Howard de Walden Estate is a property estate in Marylebone, London, owned by the Howard de Walden family. As of 2020 the estate was reported to be worth £4.7 billion.
The Montcalm Hotels are a group of luxury hotels in Central London, United Kingdom.
This is a list of the etymology of street names in the London district of Marylebone. The following utilises the generally accepted boundaries of Marylebone viz. Marylebone Road to the north, Great Portland Street to the east, Marble Arch and Oxford Street to the south and Edgware Road to the west.
Lisson Green is described as a hamlet in the Domesday book in 1086, the edges of the settlement defined by the two current Edgware Road stations facing onto Edgware Road or Watling Street as it was previously known, one of the main Roman thoroughfares in and out of London. Occasionally referred to as Lissom Grove, originally Lisson Grove was part of the medieval manor of Lilestone which stretched as far as Hampstead. Lisson Green as a manor broke away c. 1236 with its own manor house. Paddington Green formed part of the original Lilestone estate.
George Street is a street in Marylebone in Central London, England. Located in the City of Westminster, it runs east from Edgware Road until it reaches Marylebone High Street at its junction with Thayer Street. It crosses a number of streets including Seymour Place, Gloucester Place, Manchester Street and Baker Street.
Chiltern Street is a road in the Marylebone area of Central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it runs north to south connecting Marylebone Road and Blandford Street. Baker Street runs parallel a little way to the west. It meets Dorset Street, Crawford Street and Paddington Street along its route. Manchester Square is located beyond the southern end of the street.
