Fitzroy Square is a
Georgian square
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. It is the only one in the
central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
area known as
Fitzrovia
Fitzrovia () is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urban ...
.
The square is one of the area's main features, this once led to the surrounding district to be known as Fitzroy Square or Fitzroy Town and latterly as Fitzrovia, though the nearby
Fitzroy Tavern is thought to have had as much influence on the name as Fitzroy Square.
History
The square, nearby Fitzroy Street, and the Fitzroy Tavern in
Charlotte Street
Charlotte Street is a street in Fitzrovia, historically part of the parish and borough of St Pancras, in central London. It has been described, together with its northern and southern extensions (Fitzroy Street and Rathbone Place), as the '' ...
have the family name of
Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton
Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, (25 October 1683 – 6 May 1757) was an Irish and English politician.
Early life
He was the only child and heir of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton (1663–1690) (an illegitimate son of King Charles I ...
, into whose ownership the land passed through his marriage. His descendant
Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton
General Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton (25 June 1737 – 21 March 1797) was a British Army officer who served in the Seven Years' War and a politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1759 to 1780. The second son of Lord Augustus F ...
developed the area during the late 18th and early 19th century.
Fitzroy Square was a speculative development intended to provide London residences for aristocratic families, and was built in four stages. Leases for the eastern and southern sides, designed by
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...
, were granted in 1792; building began in 1794
and was completed in 1798 by Adam's brothers
James and William. These buildings are fronted in
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building ...
brought by sea from
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
.
The
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...
and a slump in the London property market brought a temporary stop to construction of the square after the south and east sides were completed. According to the records of the Squares Frontagers' Committee, 1815 residents looked out on "vacant ground, the resort of the idle and profligate". Another contemporary account describes the incomplete square:
The houses are faced with stone, and have a greater proportion of architectural excellence and embellishment than most others in the metropolis. They were designed by the Adams, but the progress of the late war prevented the completion of the design. It is much to be regretted, that it remains in its present unfinished state.
The northern and western sides were subsequently constructed in 1827–29 and 1832–35 respectively, and are
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
-fronted.
[
The south side suffered bomb damage during ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and was rebuilt with traditional facades to remain in keeping with the rest of the square.
Present day
The square was largely pedestrianised in the 1970s, as part of a scheme designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe
Sir Geoffrey Allan Jellicoe (8 October 1900 – 17 July 1996) was an English architect, town planner, landscape architect, garden designer, landscape and garden historian, lecturer and author. His strongest interest was in landscape and ga ...
and undertaken as part of environmental improvement works. In 2008 the square was upgraded by relaying most of the surface at a single level, removing street clutter such as bollards, and further restricting vehicular access.
The square is at the heart of the Fitzrovia
Fitzrovia () is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urban ...
conservation area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
and is the subject of the Fitzroy Square conservation area appraisal and management strategy adopted by 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 S ...
in March 2010.
Notable buildings
The square has a number of notable buildings, many with distinguished connections marked by blue plaques.
Numbers 1, 1A, 2–8 and 33–40 are grade I 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 I ...
s.
* No. 6 holds the office and library of The Georgian Group.
* No. 7 was the home of Sir Charles Eastlake
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (17 November 1793 – 24 December 1865) was a British painter, gallery director, collector and writer of the 19th century. After a period as keeper, he was the first director of the National Gallery.
Life
Eastlak ...
, first director of the National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
.
* No. 8 was the home of the painter James McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
.
* No. 9 was the home of chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann
August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 18185 May 1892) was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the g ...
(1818–1892).
* No. 11 for varying lengths of time housed the offices of publishers Cresset Press
The Cresset Press was a publishing company in London, England, active as an independent press from 1927 for 40 years, and initially specializing in "expensively illustrated limited editions of classical works, like Milton's ''Paradise Lost''" goi ...
, Merlin Press, and Allison and Busby
Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher.
Background
Launching as a publishing company in May ...
in the latter 1960s. Later it was the home of novelist Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...
.
* Nos. 13–14 were home to St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy
St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy was a charity founded in 1892 to support sick members of the Anglican clergy and which owned a hospital in Fitzroy Square, London. In 2009 the building was sold (it is now a private hospital); the charity was rena ...
(1904–2009).
* Nos. 16-18 were formerly the headquarters of the charity Scope
Scope or scopes may refer to:
People with the surname
* Jamie Scope (born 1986), English footballer
* John T. Scopes (1900–1970), central figure in the Scopes Trial regarding the teaching of evolution
Arts, media, and entertainment
* Cinema ...
.
* No. 19 belonged to the architect James Lockyer James Lockyer may refer to:
* James Lockyer (activist), Canadian lawyer and social justice activist
* James Lockyer (architect), English architect and surveyor
* James E. Lockyer, Canadian lawyer, law professor, and politician
* James Lockyer (m ...
who died in the house in 1875. It was then the base for the "International School" run by Louise Michel
Louise Michel (; 29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905) was a teacher and important figure in the Paris Commune. Following her penal transportation to New Caledonia she embraced anarchism. When returning to France she emerged as an important French a ...
in the 1890s. Later it was the home of Bloomsbury Group
The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton St ...
artist Duncan Grant
Duncan James Corrowr Grant (21 January 1885 – 8 May 1978) was a British painter and designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets and costumes. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group.
His father was Bartle Grant, a "poverty-stricken" major i ...
(c. 1909).
* No. 20 is the headquarters of the Rugby League International Federation
The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...
.
* No. 21 was the home of English statesman and Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Lord Salisbury. It is now occupied by the High Commission of Mozambique.
* No. 23 is the Embassy of Liberia.
* No. 25 was the site of a police raid in 1927 on the basement flat, rented by the gay dancer Bobby Britt, who was convicted of keeping a disorderly house and sentenced to 15 months' hard labour.
* No. 27 was the home of theatre critic and occasional Shaw collaborator William Archer.
* No. 28 was the headquarters of the Magistrates' Association until 2017.
* No. 29 was the home of George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
from 1887 until his marriage in 1898; and later of Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born ...
from 1907 to 1911.
* No. 33 housed Roger Fry's Omega Workshop, creating avant-garde furniture from 1913 to 1919.
* No. 34–35, owned by Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the ''Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes'' films starring Robert Downey Jr.
Ritchi ...
, was controversially squatted as the London Free School
The London Free School (LFS) was founded on 8 March 1966, principally by John Hopkins (political activist), John "Hoppy" Hopkins and Rhaune Laslett.
Description
The London Free School was a community action adult education project inspired by ...
in 2011.
* No. 37 was the home of the artist Sir William Quiller Orchardson from 1862, an address he shared for three years with John Pettie
John Pettie (Edinburgh 17 March 1839 – 21 February 1893 Hastings) was a painter from Edinburgh who spent most of his career in London. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1866 and a full academician in 1874.
As an enthusiastic am ...
. Later it was the home of the artist Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painti ...
and childhood home of his grandson, the writer Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...
.
Notable residents
In addition to those above:
*General Francisco de Miranda
Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez de Espinoza (28 March 1750 – 14 July 1816), commonly known as Francisco de Miranda (), was a Venezuelan military leader and revolutionary. Although his own plans for the independence of the Spani ...
lived at nearby 58 Grafton Way (1802–10). On the corner of 40 Fitzroy Square is a statue of him, a copy of a work by the Venezuelan sculptor Rafael de la Cova.
*Epidemiologist William Farr (1807–1883) established his first medical practice in Fitzroy Square.
* William Nisbet (1759–1822), Scottish physician and medical writer, practised in Fitzroy Square after 1801.
* Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp
Gary James Kemp (born 16 October 1959) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and principal songwriter for the New Romantic band Spandau Ballet.
Kemp wrote the lyrics and music ...
lives there.
* The thriller writer Reg Gadney lived there with his restaurant critic wife Fay Maschler.
* Until recently the clothing designer Linda Bennett
Linda Kristin Bennett (born 8 September 1962) is an English clothing designer and entrepreneur, best known for founding the fashion retailer L.K.Bennett.
Early life
Born in London, Bennett is the daughter of a London-based fashion retail entr ...
owned a Grade I listed house in the Square.
* The Welsh comedian, writer and television personality Griff Rhys Jones
Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...
is a resident.
* Chad Gould
Chad Edward Alesna Gould (born September 30, 1982) is a Filipino former footballer who played as a central defender or striker for the Loyola Meralco Sparks and the Philippines national team. He is currently a music artist signed by Warner M ...
, English-Filipino footballer, lives there.
Culture and media
The square is described in William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...
's ''Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Literature
* Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan
* ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray
* ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...
'' as the "Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The '' Oxford English ...
district", where many retired officials of the civil service in India resided.
It was a filming location for the BBC's 2009 adaptation of Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's novel '' Emma''.
C. R. W. Nevinson
Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (13 August 1889 – 7 October 1946) was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initial ...
painted a view of Fitzroy Square from the window of society hostess Mrs Aria, evidently looking east from the Conway Street corner of the square.
On the south-west side of the square's central gardens is a fibreglass sculpture created by Naomi Blake
Naomi Blake née Zisel Dum (11 March 1924 – 7 November 2018) was a British sculptor, whose work reflected her experience as a Holocaust survivor.
Biography
Blake was born in Mukačevo, Czechoslovakia (now Mukacheve, Ukraine) to orthodox Jew ...
to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
’s Silver Jubilee in 1977.
Until April 2011, No. 11 was the long-term home of author Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...
, who set much of his 2005 novel ''Saturday
Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. The da ...
'', and the home of its leading character, brain surgeon Henry Perowne, in the square.
Novelist Jacqueline Winspear
Jacqueline Winspear (born 30 April 1955) is a mystery writer, author of the '' Maisie Dobbs'' series of books exploring the aftermath of World War I. She has won several mystery writing awards for books in this popular series.
Personal life a ...
gives her 1920s detective Maisie Dobbs an office in Fitzroy Square.
The TARDIS
The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior a ...
stands in Fitzroy Square for the duration of the 1966 ''Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...
'' series ''The War Machines
''The War Machines'' is the ninth and final serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in 4 weekly parts from 25 June to 16 July 1966.
The serial is set in 1960s London ...
''.
The Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fou ...
team had an office at No. 20 between 1973 and 1974.
The 2017 film ''Phantom Thread
''Phantom Thread'' is a 2017 American historical drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville. Set in 1950s London, it stars Day-Lewis as an haute couture dressmaker ...
'' was set and filmed primarily in a home on Fitzroy Square.
See also
* List of eponymous roads in London
*Squares in London
Squares have long been a feature of London and come in numerous identifiable forms. The landscaping spectrum of squares stretches from those with more hardscape, constituting town squares (also known as city squares)—to those with communal gard ...
References
External links
* A 360 degree view from Urban7
Fitzroy Square, Fitzrovia, London 360º panorama
{{Coord, 51, 31, 22.61, N, 00, 08, 24.37, W, type:landmark, display=title
Squares in the London Borough of Camden
Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden
Grade I listed houses in London
Fitzrovia
Garden squares in London
Communal gardens