Connaught Square

Coordinates: 51°30′52″N 0°9′50″W / 51.51444°N 0.16389°W / 51.51444; -0.16389
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Connaught Square
leading politician Tony Blair and his wife Cherie
.
StatusExisting
Looking eastwards across the private garden
An example of Connaught Square's Georgian architecture

Connaught Square in

WNW of Marble Arch, which sits on a very large green roundabout (including sculptures and public fountains) marking the western end of Oxford Street. Connaught Street
runs along is northern end.

Architecture

Thomas Allason (1790-1852), builder & occupant of 1 Connaught Square.
Thomas Allason (1790-1852), builder & occupant of 1 Connaught Square.

Connaught Square's architecture is primarily Georgian. Redevelopment was initially planned in the early 18th century and the first of its 45 brick houses was built in 1828 as part of the Hyde Park Estate by Thomas Allason. Having built the Square, Thomas Allason (1790-1852) and family remained living at no 1 Connaught until well past he death in 1852.

Community

Residents of Connaught Square hold an exclusive summer party in the central communal garden every year. The garden square is maintained by the owners of the adjoining properties who contribute to its upkeep, and in return are issued keys to the garden. Such gated gardens are a particular feature of this area of London. The horses of the Royal Artillery regularly do their early morning rides down Connaught Street.

Notable residents

In October 2004, serving

Diplomatic Protection Group officers.[2]

Other famous residents have included:

Other buildings

Aside from predominant residential use, the buildings host a very small primary school and doctor’s surgery. A garage specialises in classic cars on northern approach way Connaught Street. To the west are the shops of Connaught Village and a long-standing Chinese restaurant, which was among the many meeting places of high-level corrupt talks regarding Bruce Grobbelaar, footballer.

In film, fiction and the media

In fiction, Lionel Holland lives at №242 in the film Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Proximity to the Tyburn Tree

Main articles:
Tyburn Tree, and Edgware Road

The single-most frequented gallows, the

Hundred Court
), providing a cultural focus and marking out the place of early meetings of the justices of the peace and lords of the many Ossulstone manors more generally.

The real site of this spot [the gallows] is a matter of public dispute. An iron slab opposite the end of Edgware-rd, and about 50 yards W. of the Marble Arch, professes to designate the precise location; but № 49 Connaught Square, some two or three hundred yards N.W. of that spot, disputes with it the doubtful honour, as does also the portion of the Edgware-rd at the corner of Bryanston-st.

— Dickens Dictionary of London, 1889[4]

Peter Ackroyd recites a list of anecdotes and archaeological finds supportive of pre-18th century mass burials where much of Connaught Place stands. No greater evidence is given for second theory above.[5]

See also

Nearby places

  • Knightsbridge
  • Notting Hill
  • Paddington
  • St John's Wood
  • Westminster

Nearest tube stations

  • Marble Arch
  • Edgware Road (Bakerloo Line)
  • Edgware Road (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City Lines)

References

  1. ^ The house that Tony bought, BBC News, 1 October 2004.
  2. ^ Claudia Winkleman: Take It From Me - Blair's moving in The Independent (London). Published 16 May 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  3. ^ Chancellor, Edwin Beresford (1907). The History of the Squares of London. Kegan, Paul, Trench, and Trubner & Co. p. 317.
  4. Charles Dickens, Jr.
    ; Macmillan, London; 1889 edition
  5. ISBN 0-09-942258-1

External links
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