![SIR GEORGE ALEXANDER - 57 Pont Street Chelsea London SW1X 0BD](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/SIR_GEORGE_ALEXANDER_-_57_Pont_Street_Chelsea_London_SW1X_0BD.jpg)
Pont Street is a fashionable street in the
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...
,
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 ...
, traversing the areas of
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End.
Toponymy
Knightsbridge is an ancien ...
and
Belgravia
Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a danger ...
.
The street is not far from the
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End.
Toponymy
Knightsbridge is an ancien ...
department store
Harrods
Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to ot ...
to its north-west. The street crosses
Sloane Street
Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along.
History
Sloane Street takes its name from Sir H ...
in the middle, with
Beauchamp Place to the west and
Cadogan Place
Cadogan Place is a street in Belgravia, London. It is named after Earl Cadogan and runs parallel to the lower half of Sloane Street. It gives its name to the extensive Cadogan Place Gardens, private communal gardens maintained for Cadogan reside ...
, and
Chesham Place
Chesham Place is a street in Belgravia, London UK, running between Belgrave Square and Pont Street. It is home to several embassies and has had many distinguished residents.
It was first laid out in 1831, and includes a number of listed building ...
, to the east, eventually leading to
Belgrave Square
Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for t ...
. On the west side,
Hans Place
Hans Place (usually pronounced ) is a garden square in the Knightsbridge district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, immediately south of Harrods in SW1. It is named after Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, PRS (16 April 1660 â ...
leads off the street to the north and
Cadogan Square
Cadogan Square () is a residential square in Knightsbridge, London, that was named after Earl Cadogan. Whilst it is mainly a residential area, some of the properties are used for diplomatic and educational purposes (notably Hill House School). ...
to the south.
History
![London 21 Pont Street](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/London_21_Pont_Street.jpg)
The actress
Lillie Langtry
Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer.
Born on the isl ...
(1852–1929) lived from 1892 to 1897 at 21 Pont Street, marked with 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 ...
in 1980. The building became part of the
Cadogan Hotel Cadogan () is a name of Welsh origin and is a variant of the name Cadwgan (). It may refer to:
People
* Cadogan (surname)
*Earl Cadogan, a peerage of Great Britain
Places
* Cadogan, Alberta, Canada
* Cadogan Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylv ...
in 1895, but she still stayed in her old bedroom even after this.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
was arrested in room number 118 of the
Cadogan Hotel Cadogan () is a name of Welsh origin and is a variant of the name Cadwgan (). It may refer to:
People
* Cadogan (surname)
*Earl Cadogan, a peerage of Great Britain
Places
* Cadogan, Alberta, Canada
* Cadogan Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylv ...
on 6 April 1895.
Politician
Harry Crookshank
Harry Frederick Comfort Crookshank, 1st Viscount Crookshank, (27 May 1893 – 17 October 1961), was a British Conservative politician. He was Minister of Health between 1951 and 1952 and Leader of the House of Commons between 1951 and 1955.
B ...
(1893–1961) lived from 1937 until his death at 51 Pont Street.
St Columba's Church in Pont Street was designed in the 1950s by the architect
Sir Edward Maufe
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist i ...
(1883–1974), who also designed the brick
Guildford Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford, commonly known as Guildford Cathedral, is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England. Richard Onslow donated the first of land on which the cathedral stands, with Viscount Bennett, ...
. It is one of the two London congregations of the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
. The original St Columba's Church building of 1884 was destroyed during the
Blitz
Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to:
Military uses
*Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign
*The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War
*, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...
of
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
on the night of 10 May 1941.
Portmeirion was an antiques shop in Pont Street, established by Sam Beazley and Adrienne Barker. It was named after the
village of that name in north Wales because of Beazley's family connection to the village. The shop later became the headquarters of
Portmeirion Pottery
Portmeirion is a British pottery company based in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
History
Portmeirion Pottery began in 1960 when pottery designer Susan Williams-Ellis (daughter of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who created the Italian-style Portmeirion Vi ...
. A section of railing from the
Liverpool Sailors' Home
Liverpool Sailors' Home, was open for business in Canning Place, Liverpool, England, from December 1850 to July 1969. The home was designed to provide safe, inexpensive lodging for sailors, and to offer educational and recreational opportunitie ...
was installed outside the shop by
Clough Williams-Ellis
Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. He became a major figure in the development of Welsh architec ...
.
The
Challoner Club, an exclusively Catholic
gentleman's club, was based at 59 Pont Street.
A restaurant called
Drones is located at 1 Pont Street (not to be confused with the fictional
Drones Club
The Drones Club is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British humorist P. G. Wodehouse. It is a gentlemen's club in London. Many of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Blandings Castle stories feature the club or its members.
Various members ...
of
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
).
Pont Street Dutch
"
Pont Street Dutch
Pont Street Dutch is a term coined by Osbert Lancaster to describe an architectural style typified by the large red brick gabled houses built in the 1880s in Pont Street in Knightsbridge in London. Pevsner writes of the style as "tall sparingly ...
", a term coined by
Osbert Lancaster
Sir Osbert Lancaster, CBE (4 August 1908 – 27 July 1986) was an English cartoonist, architectural historian, stage designer and author. He was known for his cartoons in the British press, and for his lifelong work to inform the general p ...
, is the architectural style typified by the large red brick gabled houses built in the 1880s in Pont Street.
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
writes of the style as "tall sparingly decorated red brick mansions for very wealthy occupants, in the semi-Dutch, semi-
Queen Anne manner of
Shaw
Shaw may refer to:
Places Australia
*Shaw, Queensland
Canada
*Shaw Street, a street in Toronto
England
*Shaw, Berkshire, a village
*Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton
*Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...
or
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
&
Peto
Peto may refer to:
People
* Peto (surname), includes a list of people with the surname Peto
* Kawu Peto Dukku (1958–2010), Nigerian politician, Senator for the Gombe North constituency of Gombe State, Nigeria
Other uses
* PETO, a German party
* ...
".
Transport
The nearest tube stations are
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End.
...
to the north and
Sloane Square
Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the central London districts of Belgravia and Chelsea, located southwest of Charing Cross, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The area forms a boundary betwe ...
to the south.
Literary references
*In
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
's ''
The Secret of Chimneys
''The Secret of Chimneys'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in June 1925 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. It introduces the characters ...
'' (1925), the character Virginia Revel lives on Pont Street.
*In
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...
's poem, "The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel" (1937), the second stanza describes Wilde in 1895 gazing out of his hotel window:
To the right and before him Pont Street
Did tower in her new built red,
As hard as the morning gaslight
That shone on his unmade bed.
* In
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
's ''
The Code of the Woosters
''The Code of the Woosters'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 7 October 1938, in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States by Doubleday, Doran, New York. It was previously serialised in ''The Sa ...
'' (1938), Mrs. Wintergreen, widow of the late Colonel H. H. Wintergreen and fiancée of
Sir Watkyn Bassett
The following is a list of recurring and notable fictional characters featured in the Jeeves novels and short stories by P. G. Wodehouse.
Anatole
Anatole is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories, being the supremely skilled F ...
, lives in Pont Street.
* In
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...
's novel ''
Brideshead Revisited
''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...
'' (1945), "Pont Street" is a shorthand term for a particular upper class subculture. The character Julia and her friends say that "it was 'Pont Street' to wear a signet ring and to give chocolates at the theatre; it was 'Pont Street' at a dance to say, 'Can I forage for you?'".
* In
Nancy Mitford
Nancy Freeman-Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford, was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford sisters, she was regarded as one of the "bright young things" on the London s ...
's ''
Love in a Cold Climate
''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. The title is a phrase from George Orwell's novel '' Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' (1936).
''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a companion volume to '' The Pursuit of L ...
'' (1949), the heroine's aunt, who is bringing her up to mix in the best society, is said to "keep her nose firmly to Pont Street".
References
External links
{{coord, 51.49702, N, 0.16019, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms
Knightsbridge
Streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Belgravia