Cavendish Square
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Cavendish Square is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. T ...
in
Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
in the
West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, 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 buil ...
. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of
Wigmore Street Wigmore Street is a street in the City of Westminster, in the West End of London. The street runs for about 600 yards parallel and to the north of Oxford Street between Portman Square to the west and Cavendish Square to the east. It is named aft ...
that runs to
Portman Square Portman Square is a garden square in Marylebone, central London, surrounded by elegant townhouses. It was specifically for private housing let on long leases having a ground rent by the Portman Estate, which owns the private communal garden ...
in the much larger
Portman Estate 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. The Portman Estate also has two rural estates in Buckinghamshire and Herefordshire. In add ...
to the west; of Harley Street which runs an alike distance; of Chandos Street which runs for one block and; of Cavendish Place which runs the same. The south side itself is modern: the rear façade and accesses to a flagship department store and office block. On the ground floors facing are Comptoir Libanais, Royal Bank of Scotland and
Pret a Manger Pret A Manger (''prêt à manger'' is French for ''ready to eat'') is an international sandwich shop franchise chain based in the United Kingdom, popularly referred to as Pret, founded in 1983. As of December 2022, Pret had 434 shops in the UK, ...
premises. Oxford Circus 150m south-east is where two main shopping streets meet. Only the south is broken by a full-width street, Holles Street. which also runs one block only; the north is broken by Dean's Mews in which Nos. 11–13 exist, the office conversion of a nunnery, retaining a chapel in its rear. Planning permission was granted in April 2020 for a subterranean health and wellbeing development of 280,000 square feet across four storeys below ground level.


History

It was first laid out for the 2nd Earl of Oxford by architect John Prince, beginning in 1717 as the first development on the Earl's London estate. It was named after the Earl's wife Henrietta Cavendish-Holles, but the bursting of the
South Sea Bubble South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
delayed further work. It included nobles' London rentals and longer leases including James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (whose house was never completed), Princess Amelia (in which house she died), and the Lane Baronets. The heir to the main landowner,
Duke of Portland Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
lived his London life here. It measures 408 to 420 feet across. A
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
unveiled in 1951 commemorates
H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...
, the
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...
from 1908 to 1916, having long lived at No. 20. Another is to Quintin Hogg, founder of what is now the
University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...
and the flagship building of the university backs on to his former family home. The square hosts the
Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. ...
headquarters and the
West London Synagogue The West London Synagogue of British Jews, abbreviated WLS ( he, ק"ק שער ציון, ''Kahal Kadosh Sha'ar Tziyon'', "Holy Congregation Gate of Zion"), is a synagogue and congregation, affiliated to Reform Judaism, near Marble Arch in cent ...
. Near to Harley Street, some of the grand townhouses accommodate medical practices such as those of
James Paget Sir James Paget, 1st Baronet FRS HFRSE (11 January 1814 – 30 December 1899) (, rhymes with "gadget") was an English surgeon and pathologist who is best remembered for naming Paget's disease and who is considered, together with Rudolf Virch ...
. Artist
Robert William Sievier Robert William Sievier FRS (24 July 1794 – 28 April 1865) was a notable British engraver, sculptor and later inventor of the 19th century. Engraver and sculptor Sievier showed an early talent for drawing, and studied under John Young and Ed ...
lived on the square, and David Williams, founder of the Royal Literary Fund, ran a chapel. Frances Fanshawe, wife of Abraham Blackborne, grandson of
Richard Levett Sir Richard Levett (also spelled Richard Levet) (died 1711), Sheriff, Alderman and Lord Mayor of London, was one of the first directors of the Bank of England, an adventurer with the London East India Company and the proprietor of the trading f ...
,
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
, died at her home on Margaret Street, an approach way, in 1795 and was buried at
Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
. The square features in
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
's novel '' Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' as the home of Dr Lanyon, Jekyll's former best friend. The bronze statue on the south side is of (William) George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck (1802–1848). Known simply as
Lord George Bentinck Lord William George Frederick Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck (27 February 180221 September 1848), better known as Lord George Bentinck, was an English Conservative politician and racehorse owner noted for his role (with Benjamin Disraeli) in unseatin ...
, he was MP for King's Lynn, Norfolk. The statue is by Thomas Campbell and was erected in 1848. A statue of Prince William, Duke of Cumberland was erected in 1770, following his defeat of
Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...
at Culloden in 1746, but was removed in the 1860s after public opinion of him had changed. The plinth remained empty until 2012, when it housed a temporary artwork ''Written in Soap, A Plinth Project''. The square was targeted on 17 December 1992 by the
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...
, 15 minutes after another small bomb at
John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
. Four people were injured in total.


Parking

Underground is vehicle parking for 521 cars and 83 motorcycles. Operated by
Q-Park Q-Park is an operator of parking garages in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Q-Park is the number two on the European parking market. In total Q-Park controls 800,000 parking spaces on m ...
, it is promoted for
Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as ...
. It unusually has the form of a double
helix A helix () is a shape like a corkscrew or spiral staircase. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is formed as two intertwined helices, ...
(a twin-start screw). Vehicles are parked on either side of a continuously descending right-hand helix with one-way traffic. At the bottom, cars are directed diametrically across, to find a left-hand ascending helix, also one-way with parking on either side, sandwiched between the turns of the descending helix. It has no pedestrian lift (as of 2013). Parking near the beginning or end makes shortest walks. But having hoped for the latter and finding them full will result in the need for a second pass. Oxford Circus (corner-to-corner 150 m south-east), a slightly longer journey by any southern approach along John Prince's Street, is where two main shopping streets meet. By 2022 a pedestrian lift had been installed, which rises to an exit on the south side of Cavendish Square. The excavated location under most of the middle of Cavendish Square was originally dug as an access shaft for construction of the Victoria Line Underground in the mid-1960s, with a further horizontal access tunnel towards Oxford Circus station. The excavation was adapted for the car park after completion of this.


Listed structures


Buildings

Anticlockwise from south-east corner; note traffic goes clockwise. Grade II: ;East side: *No. 1 (no frontage to square) and 1A *No. 4 *Nos. 12 and 14 Cavendish Place (both with oblique views of the square, only listed buildings of their short street) ;North side: *No. 15 *No. 16 ;West side: *Nos. 19 and 19A (Harcourt House) a pair of joined mirror-image mansion flats in Edwardian Baroque style, completed in 1909, designed by the firm of Gilbert and Costanduros with "an impressive Portland stone frontage in Edwardian Baroque style". The flats are decorative externally with stone octagonal domed roof pavilions and classical features including carved pediments, Ionic columns and pilasters and cast iron lamp standards; some ingenuity exists in variation of ceiling heights of the flats; one apartment has 1943-painted wall murals in Classical style by war artist
Rupert Shephard Rupert Norman Shephard (12 February 1909 – 16 March 1992) was an English painter, illustrator and art teacher. Early life Shephard was born in Islington, the son of an engineer and a charity worker, who were both Quakers and keen amateu ...
; *No. 20 (Royal College of Nursing) *Nos. 1, 3 and 5 Harley Street – see Harley Street (with oblique view of the square) *No. 17 At Grade II*: ;East side *No. 3 *No. 5 of about 1740 with next two centuries alterations *No. 7. Converted to offices. Built 1910–12 by James Gibson for Arthur Ridley Bax. ;West side *No. 18


Epstein statue and bridge

In the 19th century, №s 11, 12 and 13 on the middle of the northern range had become a convent with an interconnecting tunnel, under Dean's Mews. After damage of the
London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...
the nuns commissioned architect
Louis Osman Louis Osman (30 January 1914 – 11 April 1996) was an English artist, architect, goldsmith, silversmith and medallist. He is notable for the gold coronet he designed and made for the investiture in 1969 of Charles, Prince of Wales. His work as ...
to restore the building and create a bridge between the two. He approached
Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produc ...
for a Virgin and Child that would "levitate" above the arch and specified that it should be cast in lead which was plentiful from the bombed roofs. However, Osman did not inform the
mother superior An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...
that the sculptor was
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, which may have been an objection among some Catholics at the time. However, the Arts Council congratulated her on her "innovative choice of artist" and Epstein's work was unveiled in 1953. This work is Grade II*
listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
(protected in the mid-rarity category).


Notable occupants

*No. 1a (Flanders House) – the Representative Office of Flanders and Visit Flanders office *No. 4 – the Embassy of East Timor *No. 5 – As of 27 February 2017 hosts a headquarters of Lifescience Dynamics LtdLifescience Dynamics Limited
/ref> *Nos. 11–13 –
Heythrop College, University of London Heythrop College, University of London, was a constituent college of the University of London between 1971 and 2018, last located in Kensington Square, London. It comprised the university's specialist faculties of philosophy and theology with soc ...
, followed by the King's Fund think tank and award giver. *No. 20 – the
Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. ...
and its library and heritage centre *No. 37 – the highest number having an oblique view of the square, The Phoenix public house.


See also

*
List of eponymous roads in London The following is a partial list of eponymous roads in London – that is, roads named after people – with notes on the link between the road and the person. Examples of reigning monarchs, Prime Ministers etc. with no inherent geographic link a ...


References


External links


Cavendish Square at londontown.com
{{coord, 51.5165, -0.1450, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark Squares in the City of Westminster Garden squares in London