Victoria and albert museum from thurloe square

Thurloe Square is a traditional

garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. ...

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, London, England. There are private

communal gardens A communal garden (often used in the plural as communal gardens) is a (normally formal) garden for shared use by a number of local residents, typically in an urban setting. The term is especially used in the United Kingdom. The centre of many cit ...

in the centre of the square for use by the local residents. The

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

is close by to the north across Thurloe Place and

Cromwell Gardens Cromwell Gardens is a short but major road in South Kensington, within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. It joins the Cromwell Road at the junction with Exhibition Road to the west with the Brompton Road to the east ...

. The nearest tube station is

to the west along Thurloe Street. The square (and the adjacent streets) are named after

John Thurloe John Thurloe (June 1616 – 21 February 1668) was an English politician who served as secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell and held the position of Postmaster General between 1655 and 1660. ...

, an advisor of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

, who owned the land in the 17th century. His descendant, Harris Brace, had a godson called John Alexander, who developed the area in the 1820s.

George Basevi Elias George Basevi FRS (1 April 1794 – 16 October 1845) was a British architect who worked in both Neoclassical and Gothic Revival styles. A pupil of Sir John Soane, his designs included Belgrave Square in London, and the Fitzwilliam Muse ...

designed most of the houses. Sir

Henry Cole Sir Henry Cole FRSA (15 July 1808 – 18 April 1882) was a British civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in the 19th century in the United Kingdom. Cole is credited with devising the concept of ...

(1808–1892), the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, lived at 33 Thurloe Square just opposite the museum. The building is 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 ...

and is now the

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Embassy. The house at 5 Thurloe Square is very narrow, wedge-shaped, and only six feet wide at one end. The homeopath

Margery Blackie Margery Grace Blackie CVO MD, FFHom (4 February 1898 – 24 August 1981) was a British Doctor of Medicine who was appointed as the first woman royal physician to Queen Elizabeth II. Early life Blackie was born at Redbourn, Hertfordshire, o ...

lived and practised at no. 18 from 1929 to 1980. The building is marked with a blue plaque. The Yalta Memorial Garden, which contains a memorial to those repatriated as a result of the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

following World War II, ''

Twelve Responses to Tragedy ''Twelve Responses to Tragedy'', or the Yalta Memorial, is a memorial located in the Yalta Memorial Garden on Cromwell Road in South Kensington in west London. The memorial commemorates people displaced as a result of the Yalta Conference at t ...

'', is situated at the north of the square between the square and the Cromwell Road.

References

External links

Thurloe Square Gardens

Brompton Quarter website

The Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan website
Squares in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Thurloe Square Thurloe Square is a traditional garden square in South Kensington, London, England. There are private communal gardens in the centre of the square for use by the local residents. The Victoria and Albert Museum is close by to the north acros ...

Victoria and Albert Museum South Kensington Garden squares in London Communal gardens {{London-geo-stub