St George's Square is a prestigious and very long garden square in affluent Pimlico, Central London. It benefits from gardens and a church in its central area. Near the northern acute angle, the square is intersected by Lupus Street. Pimlico tube station is a short distance east. Its north-east side is in effect Belgrave Road and southern side is arterial Grosvenor Road which is lined by a small public garden in front of the River Thames.
Pimlico's development was started in 1835 by the landowner, the Marquess of Westminster, and the building was supervised by Thomas Cubitt who also designed the gardens. [1] St George's Square was originally laid out in 1839 as two parallel streets running north–south but by 1843 had been developed into a formal square lined on two long sides and two sides of an angle in the north. It was London's first residential "square" open to the River Thames. [2] In 1854 the first residents moved in. [1] From the 1840s until 1874 the square had a pier, St George's Wharf, in latter decades its service expanded from watermen whose numbers were already low to steamers. [2]
Its land was since 1722 in the parish of St George Hanover Square. It and the parish were named after the patron saint of England, Saint George. In the small riverside garden, Pimlico Gardens, stands a stone statue by John Gibson of William Huskisson MP — the first person run over and killed by a railway engine. [3] [4] Huskisson wears a stone Roman senatorial toga. It was designed for the Royal Exchange and moved sites in 1915. [5] The statue was described by Sir Osbert Sitwell as "boredom rising from the bath". [2] [3] The Church of St Saviour (1864) stands at the north end of the square; [6] it was designed by Thomas Cundy the Younger, surveyor for the Grosvenor estate.
The square has had many notable residents. The author Bram Stoker died at number 26 in April 1912, Dorothy L. Sayers lived in an unfurnished room for three months in 1920, the author and gamesman Stephen Potter lived at number 56 in 1924 while teaching at a crammer at number 68, William Makepeace Thackeray's eldest daughter Anne Ritchie made her home at number 109 from 1901 to 1912, and father of lawn tennis Walter Clopton Wingfield died at number 33 in April 1912. [2]
The overall shape and Cubitt's buildings remain: four and five storey white stucco townhouses whose number has been reduced. More buildings are today on the east than west side, where a school ground occupies part. The townhouses are almost completely divided into apartments. [7] [8] Demographic replies to a survey of residents in 2007 have been published by the local authority: 34% of residents aged between 30 and 45 years and that the dominant ethnic group self-identifies as White British (75%). [9]
Pimlico is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by Victoria Station, by the River Thames to the south, Vauxhall Bridge Road to the east and the former Grosvenor Canal to the west. At its heart is a grid of residential streets laid down by the planner Thomas Cubitt, beginning in 1825 and now protected as the Pimlico Conservation Area. The most prestigious are those on garden squares, with buildings decreasing in grandeur away from St George's Square, Warwick Square, Eccleston Square and the main thoroughfares of Belgrave Road and St. George's Drive. Additions have included the pre–World War II Dolphin Square and the Churchill Gardens and Lillington and Longmoore Gardens estates, now conservation areas in their own right. The area has over 350 Grade II listed buildings and several Grade II* listed churches. At the western edge of Pimlico, on the borders of Chelsea, Pimlico Road has become known in recent years for its interiors and design stores.
Thomas Cubitt was a British master builder, notable for his employment in developing many of the historic streets and squares of London, especially in Belgravia, Pimlico and Bloomsbury. His great-great-great-granddaughter is Queen Camilla.
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.
Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, and originally extended further south. The gardens' very large London Plane trees are among the oldest in central London, planted in 1789.
Eaton Hall is the country house of the Duke of Westminster. It is 1 mile (2 km) south of the village of Eccleston, in Cheshire, England. The house is surrounded by its own formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate covers about 10,872 acres (4,400 ha).
Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s. Most of the houses were occupied by 1840. The square takes its name from one of the Duke of Westminster's subsidiary titles, Viscount Belgrave. The village and former manor house of Belgrave, Cheshire, were among the rural landholdings associated with the main home and gardens of the senior branch of the family, Eaton Hall. Today, many embassies occupy buildings on all four sides.
Sir Richard Westmacott was a British sculptor.
Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, was the son of the 1st Earl Grosvenor, whom he succeeded in 1802 as 2nd Earl Grosvenor. He was created Marquess of Westminster in 1831. He was an English Member of Parliament (MP) and an ancestor of the modern-day Dukes of Westminster. Grosvenor continued to develop the family's London estates, he rebuilt their country house, Eaton Hall in Cheshire where he also restored the gardens, and built a new London home, Grosvenor House. He maintained and extended the family interests in the acquisition of works of art, and in horse racing and breeding racehorses.
Ebury Street is a street in Belgravia, City of Westminster, London. It runs from a Grosvenor Gardens junction south-westwards to Pimlico Road. It was built mostly in the period 1815 to 1860.
Thomas Cundy III was a British architect. He joined his father's practice in the 1840s and was also surveyor of the Grosvenor Estate, London. He retired from that post in 1890, and was succeeded by Eustace Balfour.
Thomas Cundy the younger was an English architect, son of another architect of the same name. He joined his father's practice and ultimately succeeded his father as surveyor of the Grosvenor Estate, and held the position during the main phase of the development of Belgravia and Pimlico by the contractor Thomas Cubitt.
St Gabriel's, Pimlico, is a Church of England, Anglo-Catholic parish church in Pimlico, London. It lies within the Deanery of Westminster within the Diocese of London. Designed by Thomas Cundy (junior), it was constructed between 1851 and 1853 as part of Thomas Cubitt's development of the area on behalf of the Marquess of Westminster. It is a Grade II* Listed Building.
St Saviour's is an Anglo-Catholic church in Pimlico, City of Westminster, London, England, located at the north end of St George's Square. It was constructed in the 1860s as part of Thomas Cubitt's development of the area on behalf of the Marquess of Westminster. The church was designed by Thomas Cundy, who had previously built St Gabriel's Pimlico a short distance away. As with St Gabriel's, St Saviour's was designed in the Gothic style and built in ragstone to emphasise the contrast with the classical stucco of its secular neighbours. The church is Grade II listed.
Belgrave is a historic village in Cheshire, England. The area is part of the estates owned the Dukes of Westminster who have their seat at Eaton Hall, Cheshire. The village has a few houses and the Grosvenor Garden Centre. Belgrave Lodge is located at the western end of the 1.7 mi (2.7 km) main approach to Eaton Hall, which is known as the Belgrave Avenue.
Wilton Crescent is a street in 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.
Saighton Grange originated as a monastic grange. It was later converted into a country house and, as of 2013, the building is used as a school. It is located in Saighton, Cheshire, England. The only surviving part of the monastic grange is the gatehouse, which is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is one of only two surviving monastic manorial buildings in Cheshire, the other being Ince Manor. The rest of the building is listed at Grade II, as is its chapel.
Grosvenor Gardens House is a Grade II-listed mansion block at 23–47 Grosvenor Gardens, Belgravia, London. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother may have been born there in 1900. David Niven was born there in 1910, and William Henry Blackmore killed himself there in 1878. As of March 2017, the building is the subject of a £132-million High Court trial for damages brought against Christian and Nick Candy.
Media related to St George's Square at Wikimedia Commons