Looking from Seymour Place towards crossroads with George Street - geograph

Seymour Place is a street in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

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 ...

. Located in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

, it runs north from Seymour Street until it meets

Marylebone Road Marylebone Road ( ) is an important thoroughfare in central London, within the City of Westminster. It runs east–west from the Euston Road at Regent's Park to the A40 Westway at Paddington. The road which runs in three lanes in both direction ...

, where it becomes

Lisson Grove Lisson Grove is a street and district in Marylebone, City of Westminster, London. The neighbourhood contains a few important cultural landmarks, including Lisson Gallery, Alfies Antique Market, Red Bus Recording Studios, the former Christ Churc ...

. It is crossed by

Crawford Street Crawford Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster, London. The street contains two grade II listed public houses. Location The street runs from the junction of Homer Row and Crawford Place in the west to the ...

, George Street, and York Street and runs parallel to

Gloucester Place Gloucester Place is a street in Marylebone in Central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it runs north from Portman Square across the Marylebone Road eventually merging into Park Road. It is parallel to Baker Street to the east and ...

, which lies to its east. Its southern end is about 180 metres northwest of Marble Arch and about 40 metres east of Edgware Road. Seymour Place was created when the former

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 ...

was redeveloped into a largely grid-like residential pattern in the

eighteenth century The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 ( MDCCI) to December 31, 1800 ( MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. During the century, slave trad ...

to accommodate the growing population of London. Along with Seymour Street, Seymour Place is named for Anne Seymour, the mother of

Henry 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 grandfather ...

, who redeveloped the area. From 1849 to 1952, the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

St Luke's Church stood the street and the adjoining Nutford Place; the church, which was badly damaged during the

Second World War 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 ...

, now houses the Sylvia Young Theatre School. The northern end of the street was formerly named Stingo Lane, after the

Yorkshire Stingo The Yorkshire Stingo was a public house in Marylebone in the 18th to mid-20th century. Its name came about because it was customary for Yorkshiremen in London to gather at the pub and its adjoining pleasure gardens on the first three days of May ...

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 was ...

, until it was demolished and rebuilt in 1872 as an extension of the existing Seymour Place. In 1866, a pioneering female doctor, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, opened St Mary's Dispensary in the street. From 1896 to 1961, the Marylebone Police Court was at 163 Seymour Place; this was near the

county court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

on the corner of Seymour Place and Marylebone Road, and in 1961 the police court was closed and moved next door to the County Court. The house of Emma Cons, a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

social reformer, stands in Seymour Street and bears 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 ...

. The Rwandan High Commission stands in the street. The Seymour Place swimming baths were designed by

Alfred Cross Alfred William Stephens Cross (1858–1932) was a British architect. From 1889 to 1899 he was in partnership with Henry Spalding as Spalding and Cross, taking part in many competitions for building design. Cross and his son (Kenneth Mervyn B ...

in 1931 for Marylebone Council and today are known as Seymour Leisure Centre.

References

{{Reflist

Bibliography

* Cherry, Bridget & Pevsner, Nikolaus. ''London 3: North West''. Yale University Press, 2002. * Riddaway, Mark & Upsall, Carl. ''Marylebone Lives: Rogues, romantics and rebels - character studies of locals since the eighteenth century''. Spiramus Press Ltd, 2015. * Thomas, Adrian & Duck, Francis. ''Edith and Florence Stoney, Sisters in Radiology''. Springer, 2019. * Walford, Edward. ''Old and new London: a narrative of its history, its people, and its places, Volume 4''. Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1880. Streets in the City of Westminster Marylebone