Rathbone Place is a street in central
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 ...
that runs roughly north-west from
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...
to
Percy Street. it is joined on its eastern side by Percy Mews,
Gresse Street
Gresse Street is a street in London that is on the border between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, the north and eastern sides being in Camden and the rest in Westminster.
The street is joined by Rathbone Place, Stephe ...
, and Evelyn Yard. The street is mainly occupied by retail and office premises.
History
The street was originally known as Glanville Street.
[Rathbone Street]
, ''Survey of London, Volume 21, The parish of St Pancras part 3: Tottenham Court Road & Neighbourhood''. 1949. British History Online. Retrieved 13 November 2014. It was renamed after Captain Thomas Rathbone, who had owned a house on the street since 1684.
Inhabitants
The essayist and critic
William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English lan ...
lived at No. 12 from 1802 to 1805, while the painter
John Constable lived at No. 50 during this time. The sculptor
Gilbert Bayes
Gilbert William Bayes (4 April 1872 – 10 July 1953) was an English sculptor. His art works varied in scale from medals to large architectural clocks, monuments and equestrian statues and he was also a designer of some note, creating chess piec ...
lived at No. 52 from 1899 to 1900.
The music-hall publisher Henri D'Alcorn was based in Rathbone Place: at no. 22A in 1855–7, no. 18 in 1857–60 and no. 8 in 1860–67.
Buildings
On the east side, Number 11 was a
grade II listed terraced house, built around 1718–20 and refronted in the nineteenth century. The ground floor was converted to commercial premises. It is now the home of Lazarides Gallery.
On the same side is
The Wheatsheaf 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 ...
at number 25 which became one of the principal gathering-places of London's
bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
set before the Second World War and where customers included
Dylan Thomas.
On the western side of the street was the former
Royal Mail depot, which is now
One Rathbone Square
One Rathbone Square is a commercial building in London, and the UK headquarters of Facebook.
History
Rathbone Square is a development in central London. The site was bought from Royal Mail Group for £120m in September 2011; it was the former We ...
; it was redeveloped by
Great Portland Estates
Great Portland Estates plc (branded as GPE) is a British property development and investment company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The firm switched to Real Estate Investment Trust status wh ...
into a mix of residential, office and retail units.
A sign on a building for Rathbone Place is seen in the last scene of BBC's ''
Sherlock'' series 4
finale.
This is a nod to the actor
Basil Rathbone and the building shown is not part of Rathbone Place.
References
References
Citations
*
Streets in the City of Westminster
Streets in the London Borough of Camden
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