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 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 addi ...

, which owns the private communal gardens. It marks the western end 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 ...

, which connects it to

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square in the much ...

to the east.

History

Context and development

It was built between 1765 and 1784 on land belonging to

Henry William Portman Henry William Portman (died 11 January 1796) was an 18th-century housing developer, the ancestor of the Viscounts Portman. Biography He was the son and heir of Henry William Berkeley Portman (d.1761), MP, by his wife Anne Fitch. His grandfathe ...

. An infantry

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

, Portman Square Barracks, was built between Portman and Orchard Streets; it was demolished in about 1860. At the east end of the garden, thus marking one end of

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional dete ...

and of Orchard Street (a short link to Oxford Street) is the Hamilton Memorial Drinking fountain. This was provided by Mariana Augusta, under the auspices of the

Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was an association set up in London by Samuel Gurney, a member of Parliament and philanthropist, and Edward Thomas Wakefield, a barrister, in 1859 to provide free drinking water ...

, in honour of her late husband Sir John James Hamilton, 2nd Baronet, briefly MP for Sudbury. The fountain is statutorily protected and recognised in the mainstream, initial category (Grade II).

Notable residents

Its houses were in its first century let or rented ''in toto'' by

Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, 7th Duke of Brandon KG PC FRS FSA (3 October 1767 – 18 August 1852) was a Scottish politician and art collector. Life Born on 3 October 1767 at St. James's Square, London, a son of Archibald Ha ...

Sir Brook Bridges, 3rd Baronet Sir Brook William Bridges, 3rd Baronet (17 September 1733 – 4 September 1791) was a British baronet and Whig politician. Born at Whitehall, he was the only son of Sir Brook Bridges, 2nd Baronet and his wife Anne Palmer, daughter of Sir Thomas ...

Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (31 January 1785 – 12 January 1851) was a British nobleman and politician who played a leading part in British politics in the late 1820s and early 1830s. He was styled Lor ...

George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle General George Thomas Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle, (13 June 179921 February 1891), styled The Honourable from birth until 1851, was a British soldier, Liberal politician and writer. Background and education Born in Marylebone, he was the third ...

Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet (17 March 1714 – 15 September 1788), merchant banker, was the third son of Henry Asgill, silkman, of St Clement Danes, Middlesex and was educated at Westminster School. Asgill's Bank Apprenticed to the banki ...

, and

William Henry Percy The Honourable William Henry Percy (24 March 1788 – 5 October 1855) was a British Royal Navy officer and politician. Family Percy was the sixth son of Algernon Percy, 1st Earl of Beverley, and his wife, the former Isabella Susannah Burrell, d ...

Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife Alexander William George Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, (10 November 1849 – 29 January 1912) styled Viscount Macduff between 1857 and 1879 and known as the Earl Fife between 1879 and 1889, was a British peer who married Princess Louise, the third c ...

, maintained his London home at No. 15.

Notable houses

About a third of the north side is in the statutory category scheme, described above but in the rarest, highest category, Grade I. *No.s 11–15 built in 1773–1776 by architect James Wyatt in cooperation with his brother

Samuel Wyatt Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737, Weeford, Staffs. – London, 8 February 1807) was an English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was primarily in a ...

. First houses in which Coade stone was used. Demolished in the 20th century.''James Wyatt, architect to George III.'' Author John Martin Robinson. Yale University Press 2012. *No. 20 –

Home House Home House is a Georgian town house at 20 Portman Square, London. James Wyatt was appointed to design it by Elizabeth, Countess of Home in 1776, but by 1777 he had been dismissed and replaced by Robert Adam. Elizabeth left the completed hous ...

, built 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 ...

between 1773 and 1777 for

Elizabeth, Countess of Home Elizabeth Home, Countess of Home (''née'' Gibbons; 1703/04 – 15 January 1784) was a Jamaican-born heiress, noblewoman and absentee plantation owner. Already rich from her merchant father, she married James Lawes, the eligible son of Jamaica's ...

, and later used by the

Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist c ...

. *No. 22 – Montagu House, built in the northwest corner of the square by James Stuart between 1777 and 1781 for Elizabeth Montagu, demolished in the Blitz by an incendiary bomb. *No. 30 – Churchill Hotel, incorporating the Michelin-starred Locanda Locatelli restaurant. This was bought on a long lease as home of George Keppel, grandson of George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle (noted above), and the husband of

Alice Keppel Alice Frederica Keppel (''née'' Edmonstone; 29 April 1868 – 11 September 1947) was an aristocrat, british society hostess and a long-time mistress of King Edward VII. Keppel grew up at Duntreath Castle, the family seat of the Edmonstone ba ...

, the mistress of King Edward VII.

Gallery

File:PortmanSquare.jpg, Map of much of part of Mayfair (south) and Marylebone (north) 1830 the square is top left File:Portman Square.JPG, Side-view of the south side in 2008, displaying odd traffic system replaced 2013 File:The Dining Room of 20 Portman Square, London.jpg, The Dining Room of No. 20 in 1913

References

External links

Portman Square at londontown.comPortman Square at marylebonevillage.com
{{coord, 51.5157, -0.1557, type:landmark_region:GB-WSM, display=title Squares in the City of Westminster Portman estate 1784 establishments in Great Britain Communal gardens