![Brook Street (W)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Brook_Street_%28W%29.jpg)
Brook Street is an axial street in the exclusive
central London district of
Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
. Most of it is
leasehold
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...
, paying ground rent to and seeking lease renewals from the reversioner, that since before 1800, has been the
Grosvenor Estate
Grosvenor Group Limited is an internationally diversified property group, which traces its origins to 1677 and has its headquarters in London, England. It has a global reach, now in 62 international cities, with offices in 14 of them, operated on ...
. Named after the
Tyburn
Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone.
The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...
that it crossed,
[Survey of London, Volume 40: The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings), 1980, ed. F. H. W. Sheppard, p. 210-221] it was developed in the first half of the 18th century and runs from
Hanover Square to
Grosvenor Square. The western continuation (to
Park Lane
Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from ...
) is called Upper Brook Street; its west end faces Brook Street Gate of
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
. Both sections consisted of neo-classical
terraced houses
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
, mostly built to individual designs. Some of them were very ornate, finely stuccoed and tall-ceilinged, designed by well known architects for wealthy tenants, especially near Grosvenor Square, others exposed good quality brickwork or bore fewer expensive window openings and embellishments. Some of both types survive. Others have been replaced by buildings from later periods.
Opulent hotel
Claridge's
Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. It has long-standing connections with royalty that have led to it sometimes being referred to as an "annexe to Buckingham Palace". Claridge's Hot ...
co-fronts two other streets and takes the majority of a block. The
Embassy of Argentina is at №65. The
Handel & Hendrix in London occupies №s 23-25, once homes of famous musicians
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
and
Handel. The baroque chamber music ensemble
The Brook Street Band takes its name from №25 where Handel lived from 1723-1759.
The French restaurant
Le Gavroche
Le Gavroche (''The Urchin'') is a restaurant at 43 Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, London. It was opened in 1967 by Michel and Albert Roux at 61 Lower Sloane Street, its premises until 1981. Albert's son Michel Roux Jr is the current chef pat ...
is housed on the primary floors of №43 Upper Brook Street.
Former residents
Sursock family
The
Sursock family
The Sursock family (also spelled Sursuq) is a Greek Orthodox Christian family from Lebanon, and used to be one of the most important families of Beirut. Having originated in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire, the family has lived in Bei ...
opened their first office in Europe, at №31, in 1858, from which they directed commercial networks, exposing land-holdings across the eastern Mediterranean to development capital of European markets (of joint-stock equity and of credit).
Others
![Hendrix and Handel houses, Brook Street](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Hendrix_and_Handel_houses%2C_Brook_Street.jpg)
;Brook Street
* 20:
Gerard Vandergucht
Gerard Vandergucht (or van der Gucht) (1696/97 – 18 March 1776) was an English engraver and art dealer.
Vandergucht, was born in London, the elder son of the Flemish engraver Michael Vandergucht. He was taught engraving by his father, as w ...
, engraver and art dealer. His son,
Benjamin Vandergucht
Benjamin Vandergucht or Van der Gucht (1753–1794) was a picture-dealer, restorer and painter.
Life
He was the thirty-second child of Gerard Vandergucht the engraver, and one of twins. He studied drawing in St Martin's Lane Academy, and on th ...
, was born here in 1753
* 23:
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
, guitarist.
* 25:
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
, composer.
* 39: Sir
Jeffry Wyatville
Sir Jeffry Wyatville (3 August 1766 – 18 February 1840) was an English architect and garden designer. Born Jeffry Wyatt into an established dynasty of architects, in 1824 he was allowed by King George IV to change his surname to Wyatville ...
, architect.
* 39:
Sibyl, Lady Colefax
Sibyl Sophie Julia, Lady Colefax (''née'' Halsey; 1874 – 22 September 1950) was an English interior decorator and socialite in the first half of the twentieth century.
Biography
Colefax was born at Wimbledon, third but only surviving daught ...
and
John Fowler, interior decorator and interior designer.
* 54:
Valentine Ackland
Valentine Ackland (born Mary Kathleen Macrory Ackland; 20 May 1906 – 9 November 1969) was an English poet, and life partner of novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner. Their relationship was strained by Ackland’s infidelities and alcoholism, but s ...
, poet, was born here.
[Brown, Susan, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy, eds. Valentine Ackland entry: Life screen within ''Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Online, 2006. http://orlando.cambridge.org/. 27 November 2018.]
* 67: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, musicians, better known as the
Bee Gees.
* 72:
Sir Henry Holland, physician and travel writer, lived and died here.
* 74:
Sir William Gull, Royal physician.
* 74:
Robert Bentley Todd
Robert Bentley Todd (9 April 1809 – 30 January 1860) was an Irish-born physician who is best known for describing the condition postictal paralysis in his Lumleian Lectures in 1849 now known as Todd's palsy.
Early life
The son of physicia ...
, physician.
* 76:
Colen Campbell, architect.
* 78:
Ronald Firbank
Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank (17 January 1886 – 21 May 1926) was an innovative English novelist. His eight short novels, partly inspired by the London aesthetes of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, consist largely of dialogue, with referen ...
, novelist.
;Upper Brook Street
* 3:
Sir Lucas Pepys, physician to King George III and
Jane Elizabeth Leslie, 12th Countess of Rothes
* 4:
Piero Malacrida de Saint-August and
Nadja Malacrida
Louisa, Marchesa Malacrida de Saint-August (''née'' Louisa Nadia Green, 15 June 1895 – 3 October 1934), known by the pen names Nadja Malacrida and Nadja, was an English writer, radio broadcaster, racing driver, and socialite. A novelist, ...
* 18:
Anne Seymour Damer
Anne Seymour Damer, ''née'' Conway, (26 October 1748 – 28 May 1828) was an English sculptor. Once described as a 'female genius' by Horace Walpole, she was trained in sculpture by Giuseppe Ceracchi and John Bacon. Influenced by the Enlighten ...
, sculptor, died here, 1828.
* 22:
Leo Bonn, founder of what became the
Royal National Institute for Deaf People
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), known as Action on Hearing Loss from 2011 to 2020, is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss.
History
The Royal National I ...
.
* 24:
Richard Bull, MP and art collector.
* 27:
William Gerard Hamilton
William Gerard Hamilton (28 January 172916 July 1796), was an English statesman and Irish politician, popularly known as "Single Speech Hamilton".
Biography
He was born in London, the son of William Hamilton, a Scottish bencher of Lincoln's I ...
, statesman, died here, 1796.
* 28:
Topham Beauclerk
Topham Beauclerk ( ; 22 December 1739 – 11 March 1780) was a celebrated wit and a friend of Dr Johnson and Horace Walpole.
Life
Topham Beauclerk was born on 22 December 1739, the only son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk and a great-grandson of King ...
, wit, lived here as a young child, 1745 to 1753.
* 35:
William Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt
William Allen Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt, (15 April 1885 – 16 August 1957) was a British Liberal Party, National Labour and then Labour Party politician and lawyer who served as Lord Chancellor under Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951.
Backgro ...
, lawyer and politician (the interior received mosaics by
Boris Anrep in 1923).
* 40:
Edward Hughes Ball Hughes
Edward Hughes Ball Hughes (28 May 1798 – 10 March 1863), also known as "The Golden Ball", was an English dandy known for his extravagant lifestyle.
Life
Hughes was born in Lambourne, Essex, and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Camb ...
, Regency dandy
* 51:
Giorgos Seferis
Giorgos or George Seferis (; gr, Γιώργος Σεφέρης ), the pen name of Georgios Seferiades (Γεώργιος Σεφεριάδης; March 13 – September 20, 1971), was a Greek poet and diplomat. He was one of the most important G ...
— Greek Ambassador, poet and
Nobel Laureate
* 56:
David Ricardo
David Ricardo (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a British Political economy, political economist. He was one of the most influential of the Classical economics, classical economists along with Thomas Robert Malthus, Thomas Malthus, Ad ...
, economist.
Notes and references
;Footnotes
;Citations
External links
Brook Street— detailed architectural history of Brook Street from the ''
Survey of London
The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an A ...
''
Upper Brook Street— detailed architectural history of Upper Brook Street from the ''
Survey of London
The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an A ...
''
*
{{coord, 51.5129, -0.1471, type:landmark_region:GB-WSM, display=title
Mayfair
Streets in the City of Westminster