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Queen Square is a garden square in the
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
district of central London. Many of its buildings are associated with medicine, particularly
neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...
.


Construction

Queen Square was originally constructed between 1716 and 1725. It was formed from the garden of the house of Sir John Cutler baronet (1608–1693), whose last surviving child, Lady Radnor, died in 1697 leaving no issue. It was left open to the north for the landscape formed by the hills of Hampstead and Highgate.


Queen Charlotte and treatment for George III

A statue contained within the square was misidentified as depicting Queen Anne. This statue is now believed to be a portrayal of Queen Charlotte, wife of
King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great B ...
. George III was treated for mental illness in a house in Queen Square towards the end of his reign. The
public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
on the southwest corner of the square, called "the Queen’s Larder", was, according to legend, used by Queen Charlotte to store food for the king during his treatment. The church, dedicated to St George the Martyr, was built following public subscription in 1706. The church's rector from 1747 to 1765 was the famous antiquary William Stukeley, whose rectory was next to the residence of the Duke of Powis.'Queen Square and Great Ormond Street', ''Old and New London: Volume 4 (1878)'', pp. 553-564


Late 19th century

Built in the early 18th century as a fashionable area, by the mid-19th century it had attracted many French refugees and the shops of sundry booksellers and print sellers. It became a favoured centre for charitable institutions, including the Roman Catholic
Aged Poor Society Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal ...
at No. 31, and the
Society of St Vincent de Paul The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...
. Gradually the mansions were turned into hospitals and other institutions. The first institution which is still in the square was started by Johanna Chandler in 1860.Jennett Humphreys, ‘Chandler, Johanna (1820–1875)’, rev. Patrick Wallis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, 200
accessed 7 Dec 2014
/ref> Elizabeth Malleson started the Working Women's College here in 1864. The College of Preceptors (also known as the College of Teachers) occupied No. 42 Queen Square from 1855 until 1887.


20th and 21st centuries

Many of the buildings surrounding the square are devoted to providing, researching and administering health care. Two hospitals, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), often referred to synechdochally as "Queen Square", and the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (formerly the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital), make up the east side of the square. The Institute of Neurology, part of
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
(UCL), is located in the north east corner of the square. The former Institute for Public Health takes up much of the north side - the building is now used as the administrative centre for the NHNN and Institute of Neurology. Several buildings on the west side of the square are devoted to medical research and are part of the Institute of Neurology and other departments of UCL. These include Alexandra House at number 17, which houses the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit. The
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging The 'Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging'' at University College London is a world-leading interdisciplinary centre for neuroimaging research based in London, United Kingdom. Researchers at the Centre use expertise to investigate how the ...
(commonly referred to as the Functional Imaging Laboratory) is located at number 12. Numbers 8–11, the Sir
Charles Symmonds Charles J. Symmonds (October 6, 1866 – July 16, 1941) was a brigadier general in the United States Army. He was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal. His award citation reads: :''The President of the United States of America, authorize ...
House, houses the Dementia Research Centre on the first floor and the Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases on the ground floor. At the southern end of the square is the church mentioned above, the Mary Ward Centre for
adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values.Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...
, and the former Italian Hospital, now part of
Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospi ...
for children (whose main buildings are in Great Ormond Street, off Queen Square). No 42-3, originally an 18th-century town house, has a long history of educational use: it was occupied by the Royal Female School of Art from 1861, the London County Council Trade School for Girls from 1910, the Technical College for Women in the 1930s, and the Stanhope Institute for adult education in the 1950s. The Mary Ward Centre took over the building in 1982. A women-only
Turkish bath A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherite ...
operated in Queen Square from 1930 to 1962. The site is now occupied by the Imperial Hotel. One of the buildings, the Sobell Department, contains a lecture theatre used by UCL for postgraduate teaching. With 220 seats, it is one of the largest lecture theatres in Queen Square. It has an important past, having welcomed famed scientists such as John HardyAccounts from past students and John Fox. Its wear and tear, evident through malfunctioning desks inter alia, highlights this history.


Notable residents

* Sir William Browne, physician, 1749–1774 * Fanny Burney, novelist, 1770–1774 *
Frances Reynolds Frances Reynolds (6 June 1729 – 1 November 1807 London) was a British artist, and the youngest sister of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Life She was born in 1729 and later kept Sir Joshua's house for many years after he came to London, and employ ...
, painter, 1792–1807 * Francis Ronalds, inventor, 1820–1822


See also

* List of demolished buildings and structures in London


References

*Richard Tames. ''Bloomsbury Past'' (
Historic Publications Ltd History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as we ...
, *Godfrey Heathcote Hamilton. ''Queen Square'' (
Leonard Parsons Sir Leonard Gregory Parsons MRCS FRCP FRCOG FRS (25 November 1879 - 17 December 1950) was a British Paediatrician. Parsons studied at Mason College and the University of Birmingham from 1896 to 1903. He graduated with a University of London ...
, Edition 1926)


External links


History of Queen Square


- University of London
THE ART WORKERS’ GUILD – 125 years History
- 6 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London
Queen Square Neurology Archive
an extensive archive of historical documents relating to the neurology institutions in Queen Square
''History of 42-43 Queen Square''
– Mary Ward Center
Map
{{coord, 51, 31, 19, N, 0, 7, 20, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Squares in the London Borough of Camden Bloomsbury 1725 establishments in Great Britain Monuments and memorials to women Garden squares in London