Bloomsbury Square is a

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. ...

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

, in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Bedford House along the north of the square had been demolished and replaced with terraced housing designed by James Burton.

Geography

To the north of the square is Great Russell Street and Bedford Place, leading to

Russell Square Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton (property developer), James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Mus ...

. To the south is Bloomsbury Way. To the west is the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and Holborn is the nearest underground station to the southeast. There are gardens in the centre of the square.

History

The square was developed for the 4th Earl of Southampton in the early 1660s and was initially known as Southampton Square. It was one of the earliest London squares. The Earl's own house, then known as Southampton House and later as Bedford House after the square and the rest of the Bloomsbury Estate passed by marriage from the Earls of Southampton to the Dukes of Bedford, occupied the whole of the north side of the square, where Bedford Place is now located.History
, The Bedford Estates, Bloomsbury, London, UK. The other sides were lined with typical terraced houses of the time, which were initially occupied by members of the aristocracy and gentry. On 9 April 1694 Bloomsbury Square was the setting for an infamous duel. The then 23-year-old Scottish economist and financier John Law fought Edward 'Beau' Wilson, killing him with a single pass and thrust of his sword. Law would be convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but would escape his condemned cell and go on to become the founder of the

Mississippi Company John Law's Company, founded in 1717 by Scottish economist and financier John Law (economist), John Law, was a joint-stock company that occupies a unique place in French and European monetary history, as it was for a brief moment granted the enti ...

and the de facto prime minister of France. By the early 19th century, Bloomsbury was no longer fashionable with the

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...

es. Consequently, the Duke of Bedford of the day moved out of Bedford House, which was demolished and replaced with further terraced houses. In the 19th century the square was occupied mainly by middle class professionals. The writer Isaac D'Israeli lived at No. 6 from 1817 to 1829 and for part of that time his son, the future Prime Minister

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

lived with him. In the 20th century most of the buildings came to be used as offices. Bloomsbury Square's garden contains a bronze statue by Richard Westmacott of

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...

, who was a Whig associate of the Dukes of Bedford. None of the original 17th-century buildings survive, but there are many handsome 18th- and early 19th-century houses. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was based in an 18th-century building on the southern side of the square partly credited to John Nash. The eastern side of the square is occupied by a large early 20th-century office building called Victoria House, built for, and for many decades occupied by, Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society. The garden is open to the public and was refurbished in 2003. The garden is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Bloomsbury Square1

In culture

*The second movement of Symphony No 2 (A London Symphony) by Vaughan Williams represents "Bloomsbury Square on a November Afternoon". *In the musical '' Oliver!'', Mr. Brownlow lives in Bloomsbury Square, while in

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

's '' Oliver Twist'', on which the musical is based, he lives in Pentonville.

Current occupants

* No. 5a Pushkin House * No. 15 Le Cordon Bleu * No. 17 German Historical Institute * No. 18

The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

* No. 19 19 Bloomsbury Square Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Former occupants

* No. 6 Isaac D'Israeli * No. 29

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

* William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield *

Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele ( – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright and politician best known as the co-founder of the magazine ''The Spectator (1711), The Spectator'' alongside his close friend Joseph Addison. Early life Steel ...

* No. 38 Samuel Shepherd * No. 40 Gertrude Stein in 1902.

References

External links

{{Bloomsbury Squares in the London Borough of Camden Bloomsbury James Burton (property developer) buildings Grade II listed parks and gardens in London Bedford Estate Garden squares in London