![Endell Street north](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Endell_Street_north.JPG)
Endell Street, originally known as Belton Street, is a street in
London's West End that runs from
High Holborn
High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and ...
in the north to
Long Acre
Long Acre is a street in the City of Westminster in central London. It runs from St Martin's Lane, at its western end, to Drury Lane in the east. The street was completed in the early 17th century and was once known for its coach-makers, and la ...
and
Bow Street
Bow Street is a thoroughfare in Covent Garden, Westminster, London. It connects Long Acre, Russell Street and Wellington Street, and is part of a route from St Giles to Waterloo Bridge.
The street was developed in 1633 by Francis Russell, 4 ...
,
Covent Garden, in the south. A long tall narrow building on the west side is an 1840s-built public house, the
Cross Keys, Covent Garden.
Location
![Endell Street map London](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Endell_Street_map_London.jpg)
Endell Street is crossed only by Shorts Gardens and Shelton Street. Betterton Street intersects between these on the eastern side. The northern end of the street is in the
London Borough of Camden
The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and ...
, the south in the
City of Westminster. The street is an avenue with very tall, mature plane trees, widely spaced; it now equals the B401 (which had included Bow and Wellington Streets) and is one-way, southbound.
History
The land on which the southern part of Endell Street is built was originally owned by William Short, who leased it to
Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox
Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox (157930 July 1624), KG, 7th Seigneur d'Aubigny, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a Scottish nobleman and through their paternal lines was a second cousin of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. H ...
, in 1623–24. Lennox House was built on the site which eventually passed to Sir John Brownlow who began to build from 1682. Belton Street was created, named after the Brownlow's country seat in Lincolnshire,
Belton House.
Henry Wheatley
Major-General Sir Henry Wheatley, 1st Baronet CB, GCH (1777 – 21 March 1852), was the Keeper of the Privy Purse for King William IV and Queen Victoria from 1830 to 1846.
Life
He was the third son of William Wheatley, esq. of Lesney House ...
writes that the southern end of the street from Castle Street to Short's Gardens was originally known as Old Belton Street, the northern end from Short's Gardens to
St Giles
Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...
, was known as New Belton Street.
In the seventeenth century,
Queen Anne is supposed to have bathed in the waters from a medical spring there at a site known as Queen Anne's Bath.
[
The modern Endell Street was created according to the reforming plans of architect James Pennethorne.
Charles Lethbridge Kingsford states that the street was built in 1846 when Belton Street was widened and extended northwards to Broad Street (now in High Holborn).][ The street is believed to have been named after the Reverend James Endell Tyler, rector of St Giles in the Fields in the 1840s.] The British Lying-In Hospital
The British Lying-In Hospital was a maternity hospital established in London in 1749, the second such foundation in the capital.
Background
The impetus for the creation of a dedicated maternity hospital was dissatisfaction on the part of the gov ...
was relocated to a purpose-built building on Endell Street in 1849.
Listed buildings
There are eight listed buildings
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
of the street, including:
Lavers and Barraud stained-glass studio
The Jewell and Withers Building at 22 Endell Street is a Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...
. Located on the corner of Betterton Street and Endell Street, the polychrome brick and stone Gothic revival structure, cited as an early example of the style, was designed as a studio for the stained-glass firm Lavers and Barraud in 1859, and is listed together with the attached cast-iron railings. The gable window on Betterton Street has a significant contemporary stained glass window by the artist Brian Clarke
Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and conte ...
. The post-modern artwork, which references the building's original function as a stained glass studio, was commissioned as part of an early 1980s refurbishment of the building. Funded by the British Crafts Council
The Crafts Council is the national development agency for contemporary craft in the United Kingdom, and is funded by Arts Council England.
History
The Crafts Advisory Committee was formed in 1971 to advise the Minister for the Arts, David Eccles ...
, but fabricated in Germany, it was installed in 1981, and designed to be equally visually effective by night and in daytime through its complex use of lead and varied mouth-blown glass.
Cross Keys public house
The Cross Keys public house at No.31, constructed 1848–49, is a Grade II listed building.
Latchfords Timber Yard
The nineteenth-century Latchfords Timber Yard and attached timber sheds at No.61 are Grade II listed.
Swiss Protestant Church
The Swiss Protestant Church at No.79 was designed by George Vulliamy and built 1853–4. It is also Grade II listed.
Inhabitants
The watercolour painter William Henry Hunt was born at "8 Old Belton Street" (No. 7) in 1790.[
]
Hospitals of Endell Street
British Lying-in Hospital
Founded in 1749, this maternity hospital
A maternity hospital specializes in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. It also provides care for newborn infants, and may act as a centre for clinical training in midwifery and obstetrics. Formerly known as lying-in hospitals, most ...
was built at No.24 in 1849; it closed in 1913.
St Paul's Hospital
Founded in 1898, thus urology
Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and '' -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive org ...
hospital took over the premises at No.24 after the British Lying-In Hospital closed; St Paul's Hospital closed in 1992.
Endell Street Military Hospital
During the first world war a military hospital operated from No.36, staffed entirely by women. The hospital was opened in 1915 by suffragists Dr Flora Murray and Dr Louisa Garrett Anderson and treated 24,000 patients and carried out over 7,000 operations. It closed in 1919.
Clubs
The Caravan Club
The basement of No.81 was home from July 1934 to the Caravan Club that advertised itself as "London's Greatest Bohemian Rendezvous said to be the most unconventional spot in town" which was code for being gay-friendly. The club helpfully promised "All night gaiety". It was run by Jack Rudolph Neaves, known as "Iron Foot Jack" on account of the metal leg brace he wore, and was frequented by both gay men and lesbian women. It was financed by small-time criminal Billy Reynolds.
The club came to the attention of the police almost straight away and in August local residents complained "It's absolutely a sink of iniquity." The club was raided on 25 August, with men arrested. Their trial at Bow Street Magistrates Court
Bow Street Magistrates' Court became one of the most famous magistrates' court in England. Over its 266-year existence it occupied various buildings on Bow Street in Central London, immediately north-east of Covent Garden. It closed in 2006 an ...
caused a sensation reported in the '' News of the World''.
The Hospital Club
The Hospital Club opened in 2003 at No.24 to serve the members of London's media and creative industries. It was on the site of the former St Paul's Hospital. It was used by the rock band Radiohead to record parts of their 2007 album ''In Rainbows
''In Rainbows'' is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 10 October 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download, followed by a physical release internationally through XL Recordings and in North America ...
'' and the 2008 live video '' In Rainbows – From the Basement.'' In 2020, the club closed permanently due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
and other "extenuating circumstances".
References
External links
{{Coord, 51.51442, -0.12441, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Covent Garden
Streets in the London Borough of Camden
Endell Street, London