SQUARES

The London Squares Preservation Act of 1931 was passed in order to try to protect the character of the city's squares. In 2008 two-thirds of London's 600 squares were protected by the measure. 89 of them were within the Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

London's squares are remnants of the gated communities. Their continuing private character has given them a distinction from Paris's imitative public squares.

Bedford Square

Bedford Square is the best preserved of London's Georgian squares. It was laid out in the late 1770s. Public traffic was excluded from it until 1893. Its central garden is still private.

Location: Bedford Square, WC1E 6HD (blue, yellow)

See Also: ESTATES The Bedford Estates; MENU

Website: www.bedfordestates.com

Bloomsbury Square

The Earl of Southampton developed Bloomsbury Square. In doing so, he pioneered harnessing both the skills and the capital of speculative builders. He also appreciated that it was not enough to just build the grand houses. A range of others were required so that the overall development could function efficiently and thus be attractive. St Albans copied the example in St James s.

Location: Bloomsbury Square, WC1A 2LP (purple, yellow)

Eaton Square

Eaton Square (1826) is a rectangle composed of six gardens that are hedged in by roads. It was laid out by Thomas Cubitt for the Duke of Westminster.

In 2008 many of the houses were composed of lateral apartments that covered more than one property

Location: Eaton Square, SW1W 9DB (blue, pink)

Eccleston Square

In the early 21^stC Eccleston Square's three-acre garden has a much wider range of plants than most square gardens. This derived from the horticulturalist Roger Phillips, a former advertising art director, being a local resident.

Location: Eccleston Square, SW1V 1NP (orange, turquoise)

Fassett Square

The B.B.C. soap opera Eastenders is set around a fictional square called Albert Square. The set designers modelled this upon Fassett Square in Hackney.

Location: Fassett Square, E8 1BF.

Grosvenor Square

In 2018 the garden in the centre of Grosvenor Square reverted to the Grosvenor Estate. It had been controlled by the Royal Parks since 1946.

Location: Grosvenor Square, W1K 2HN (purple, pink)

Kensington Square

Kings Square in Kensington was laid out in the mid-1680s. In 1689 King William III bought Kensington House. The square became a fashionable address. In 1837 Queen Victoria ascended the throne. She chose not to live in Kensington Palace, having been raised there. Soon afterwards the square was renamed Kensington Square.

Location: Kensington Square, W8 5HD (blue, yellow)

Leicester Square

In the 1840s New Coventry Street was created. This increased the amount of traffic that flowed through Leicester Square. Its character began to shift from being predominantly residential to being predominantly commercial. The square began to become associated with entertainment. The Alhambra opened in 1858 as a circus but swiftly metamorphosed into being a music hall. The Empire opened in Cranbourn Street in 1884, and was followed by Daly s in 1893, and The Hippodrome in 1900.

In the 1920s revues were a feature of London theatre life. Charles Cochran dominated the form. His competitor Andr Charlot was at times able to mount four shows simultaneously. With advent of the Great Depression, this entertainment form faltered. It was capital intensive and its audience was no longer as affluent as they had been. The variety palaces of Leicester Square were all converted into cinemas - The Alhambra became the Odeon Leicester Square, The Royal London Panorama metamorphosed into the Empire Cinema, and Daly s in Cranbourn Street turned into the Warner Cinema.

Location: Leicester Square, WC2H 7NG (purple, orange)

Mecklenburgh Square

During the 1920s and 1930s the poet Hilda Doolittle, the scholar and translator Jane Ellen Harrison, the economic historian Eileen Power, and the writers Dorothy L. Sayers and Virginia Woolf all spent time living in Mecklenburgh Square.

Location: Mecklenburgh Square, WC1N 2AD (red, pink)

Queen Square

Location: Queen Square, WC1N 3AR (blue, yellow)

Soho Square

See Also: SOHO

Sir Joseph Banks

As a child (Sir) Joseph Banks (1^st Bt.) (1743-1820) became a keen botanist. After coming down from the University of Oxford, he spent time living with his mother at No. 22 Paradise Row, Chelsea, which was convenient for him to spend time in Chelsea Physick Garden. Moving in London scientific circles, in 1767 he met the Swedish botanist Daniel Solander (1733-1788), who had trained under Linnaeus (n Carl von Linn ) (1707-1778) and who had been cataloguing the natural history in the British Museum.

During the years 1768-1771 Banks and Solander were members the scientific contingent on Captain James Cook's first great Pacific navigation. In 1773 Banks was effectively appointed the Director of the Botanic Gardens at Kew. Under his leadership, a royal pleasure ground became scientific institution of global importance. In 1777 Banks made No. 32 Soho Square his London townhouse. There, he opened his library and collections to people with a serious interest in science. In 1778 he was elected the President of the Royal Society.

Location: 32 Soho Square, W1D 3JR (purple, red)

Tolmers Square

In the 1970s the countercultural figure John Hoppy Hopkins (1937-2015) became an advocate of squatters rights. He shot footage of Tolmers Village.

Location: Tolmers Square, NW1 2PE (blue, turquoise)

David Backhouse 2024