Park Square is a large

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. ...

or private appendix to

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and is split from a further green, the long northern side of Park Crescent, by

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 directi ...

and (single-entrance)

Regent's Park tube station Regent's Park is a London Underground station south of Regent's Park. It is on the Bakerloo line between Baker Street and Oxford Circus stations. Its access is on Marylebone Road, within Park Crescent, in Travelcard Zone 1, in which zone ...

. It consists of two facing rows of large, very classically formed,

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

ed,

terraced house A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

s with decorative lower floor balconies and a colonnade of consecutive porticos by architect John Nash, and was built in 1823–24. Alike, shorter-length terraces flank its corners at right angles, equally Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s: Ulster Terrace, Ulster Place, St Andrew's Place and Albany Terrace. Park Square Gardens at centre are private communal grounds for residents.Park Square NW1

Open Garden Squares
Fronting the north side is the traffic-calmed Outer Circle (road) of

. The square is in the

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

historic parish addition to the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

save for the eastern side: in Camden (more particularly, its dominant Saint Pancras historic parish). On the east side of the square was Britain's first and longest-lasting of four national exhibitions of the

Diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional model either full-sized or miniature. Sometimes dioramas are enclosed in a glass showcase at a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies like mili ...

, the building of which remains, in other use – it opened from 1823 until 1852. North-east beyond much smaller St Andrews Place, about twice the Diorama's size, was

London Colosseum The London Colosseum was a building to the east of Regent's Park, London. It was built in 1827 to exhibit Thomas Hornor's "Panoramic view of London", the largest painting ever created. The design of the Colosseum was inspired by the Pantheo ...

, built for the largest painting ever made and which was demolished in 1874 – both had large foyers and attracted many visitors. Unusually it has eight buildings within it, omitting which space, the garden added to east and west sides' roads and footways spans ; and the span is 218 metres between the two built-up sides. The gardens are owned by the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

which keeps four of the internal buildings. It opens to the public a few times per year for London Gardens Squares Weekends. It is dominated by

plane tree ''Platanus'' ( ) is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. The type ...

s. The first set were planted in 1817 to celebrate the peace won by the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

in 1815. Also of interest is a tulip tree, ''

Liriodendron tulipifera ''Liriodendron tulipifera''—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, lynn-tree, hickory-poplar, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus ...

''.

Classical pedestrian tunnel for residents

An 1821-built feature in the garden is the "Nursemaids' Tunnel", a private, communal pedestrian tunnel, rare in today's Inner London boroughs, privately linking the gardens with those of Park Crescent. Its portals are well-executed in stucco, each with fluted Doric columns flanking the arched entrances. The tunnel has groin vaults supported by brick pilasters and concave walls. The busy road was considered dangerous, especially to children who were often taken to the park by a nursemaid, leading to the wealthy to-be residents petitioning for its building.

Statutorily protected features

In the highest, rarest level of

are both built-up sides. In the east all but the end houses comprise "Park Square East" (yet numbered 13 to 24 to avoid any confusion with 1 to 12 "Park Square West"). This exclusion of ends from the street's own numbering is mirrored on the other side. The latter likewise is Grade I-listed. The four corner houses project slightly, and co-front shorter terraces yet their design is highly similar by Nash, and of the same date. Those short perpendicular rows are recognised and protected with the same (Grade I) status: Ulster Terrace, Ulster Place, St Andrew's Place and Albany Terrace. Two small garden-keeping buildings are listed in the extreme southern corners, the garden-surrounding railings and 18 street lamps. All in the mainstream, initial category, grade II. Non-listed similar-size buildings comprise those in the northern angles: 12 Park Square East; 13 Park Square West sharing classical architectural façades, built with less expensive labour and materials.

References

{{coord, 51.524, -0.147, type:landmark_region:GB-CMD, display=title Grade I listed houses in London Houses completed in 1824 John Nash (architect) buildings Squares in the City of Westminster Squares in the London Borough of Camden Regent's Park Garden squares in London Regency architecture in Westminster Communal gardens