Soho Square
Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a de facto public park let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, and a much weathered statue of the monarch has stood in the square, with an extended interruption, since 1661, one year after the restoration of the monarchy.
Of the square's 30 buildings (including mergers), 16 are listed (have statutory recognition and protection). During the summer, Soho Square hosts open-air free concerts.
By the time of the drawing of
At its centre is a listed mock "market cross" building, completed in 1926 to hide the above-ground features of a contemporary
Initial residents were relatively significant landowners and merchants. Some of the square remains residential. From the 1820s to the 1860s, at least eleven artists recently qualified for major exhibitions were resident aside from permanent residents, some of whom were more accomplished artists, as comprised in the
History
Built in the late 1670s, Soho Square was in its early years one of the most fashionable places to live in London. It was originally called King's Square, for King
By the early 19th century, the statue, fountain and attendant figures was described as "in a most wretched mutilated state; and the inscriptions on the base of the pedestal quite illegible".[2] In 1875, it was removed during alterations in the square by Thomas Blackwell, of Crosse & Blackwell, the condiment firm (which had premises at № 20-21 Soho Square from the late 1830s until the early 1920s), who gave it for safekeeping to his friend, artist Frederick Goodall, with the intention that it might be restored.[2] Goodall placed the statue on an island in his lake at Grim's Dyke, where it remained when dramatist W. S. Gilbert purchased the property in 1890, and there it stayed after Gilbert's death in 1911. In her will, Lady Gilbert directed that the statue be returned, and it was restored to Soho Square in 1938.[4]
The politician
In the 1770s, the naturalist Joseph Banks who had circumnavigated the globe with James Cook, moved into № 32 in the south-west corner of the square. In 1778, Banks was elected president of the Royal Society and his home became a kind of scientific salon hosting scientists visiting from around the world. His library and herbarium containing many plants gathered during his travels were open to the general public.
Between 1778 and 1801 the square was home to the infamous White House brothel at the Manor House, 21 Soho Square.[5] In 1852, the Hospital for Women (begun nine years earlier at Red Lion Square) moved to № 30 to accommodate 20 more beds. Twelve years later it bought 2 Frith Street; the old site was remodelled in 1908. It moved and merged in 1989 into the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital, Euston Road.[6] Eleven artists whose addresses are given as being in Soho Square in exhibition catalogues, whose names do not appear in the vestry ratebooks, are listed by the 1966 Survey of London by historian F H W Sheppard.[3]
A common for commercial/high demand areas sequence of house rebuilding and renovation, which had begun in the 1730s when many of the houses built in the 1670s and 1680s were becoming dilapidated and old-fashioned, continued for the next one-and-a-half centuries. After the 1880s the rate of change was considerably faster. Between 1880 and 1914, 11 of the 38 old houses in the square were rebuilt or considerably altered. The majority of the new buildings provided office accommodation only and the residential, mercantile and manufacturing elements in the square declined. However, three of the eleven houses were demolished to make way for church buildings.[3]
Two of the original houses, №s 10 and 15, still stand. At №s 8 and 9 is the French Protestant Church of London, built in 1891–93. Fauconberg House was on the north side of the square until its demolition in 1924.[6]
A 200-person
Burroughes Hall was an important billiards and snooker venue in Soho Square from 1903 until it closed in 1967. The hall was in the premises of Burroughes & Watts Ltd., which had been at 19 Soho Square since 1836.[8]
During the 1970s and 1980s Number 13 Soho Square was home to Richard Williams Animation, an animation studio which produced many award-winning films, including A Christmas Carol, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1972.[9]
Residents
In 1862 the charity House of St Barnabas moved around the corner from Rose Street to its present base at 1 Greek Street (all other buildings fronting the square have Soho Square addresses).[3]
Wilfrid Voynich had his antiquarian bookshop at № 1 from 1902.
№ 22 became home to British Movietone[10] and Kay (West End) Film Laboratories,[11] having been re-built to its current form between 1913 and 1914.[12]
Publisher Rupert Hart-Davis lived at № 36 from about 1947.
From 1956 to 1961, № 16 was headquarters of VistaScreen.
The composer
From 1967 to 1968, TVC Animation Studio leased floors at № 20 for the production of The Beatles – Yellow Submarine animated feature film.
From 1955 to 1993, 13 Soho Square was the home and headquarters of animator Richard Williams.[14]
Present day
Soho Square is home to several media organisations, including the
The Football Association was headquartered at № 25 from October 2000 until 2009.
On the east side the Roman Catholic parish church is partially on the site of Carlisle House with catacombs that spread deep under the square and further.
Six approach ways to the square exist:
- Carlisle Street – from the west.
- Soho Street – from the north.
- Sutton Row – from the east.
From the south side:
- Greek Street
- Batemans Buildings
- Frith Street
At the square's centre is a black-and-white, half-timbered,
Buildings and their status
№ (and any name) | Side of Square | Listed status | When built |
---|---|---|---|
1 | WSW | None | - |
2 | WSW | Grade II[17] | 1735 |
3 | WSW | Grade II[18] | 1903 |
4 - 6 | WSW | Grade II[19] | 1801 - 1805 |
7 | NNW | None | - |
8 - 9 The French Protestant Church | NNW | Grade II*[20] | 1891–1893 by Aston Webb |
10 - 10A | NNW | Grade II[21] | 1676 |
11 | NNW | None | - |
12 | NNW | None | - |
13 | NNW | Grade II*[22] | 1768–1769 with earlier (c. 1677) original woodwork above basement stairs. |
14 | NNW | None | - |
15 | NNW | Grade II[23] | 1677–1680 with later (1800–1900) changes to the facing front and roof |
16 | NNW | None | - |
17 - 19 | ENE | None | - |
20 | ENE | None | - |
21 |
Example | Grade II[24] | 1838–1840, and 1920 with earlier (c. 17th century) elements |
St Patrick's Church | ENE | Grade II*[25] | 1891–1893 (replacing makeshift same church in older building since 1802); many 18th-century fixtures including two standing figures that "may be" from City of London's Moorfields sole place of Catholic worship for earlier years |
St Patrick's Presbytery | ENE | Grade II[24] | 1791 - 1793 |
22 | ENE | None | - |
23 | ENE | None | - |
24 | ENE | None | - |
25 | ENE | None | - |
26 | ENE | Grade II*[26] | 1788 - 1789 |
1 Greek Street (House of St Barnabas) | SSE | Grade I[27] | 1744–1746 |
27 | SSE | None | - |
29 - 30 (former Hospital for Women) | SSE | Grade II[28] | 1909–1910 (recasing of earlier work) |
31 - 34 | SSE and WSW | None | - |
35 - 36 | WSW | Grade II[29] | 1680 with next two-centuries face and refittings |
37 | WSW | Grade II[29] | 1766 (c.) with 19th century alterations |
38 - 38A | WSW | Grade II[30] | 1735 with 19th century shopfront, glazing etc. |
Cultural references
In the book A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Soho Square is where Lucie and her father, Doctor Manette, reside. It is believed that their house is modelled on the House of St Barnabas, which Dickens used to visit, and it is for this reason that the street running behind the House from Greek Street is called Manette Street (it was formerly Rose Street).
Joseph Addison and Richard Steele wrote of their character Sir Roger de Coverley in The Spectator, "When he is in Town he lives in Soho-Square."
In the song "Why Can't The English?" from the musical My Fair Lady, Professor Henry Higgins laments, "Hear them down in Soho Square/Dropping H's everywhere."
In the novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, the eponymous Jonathan Strange and his wife Arabella maintain a home in Soho Square as their residence in London.[31]
The Soho Square garden contains a bench that commemorates the singer Kirsty MacColl, who wrote the song "Soho Square" for her album Titanic Days. After her death in 2000, fans bought a memorial bench in her honour, inscribing the lyrics: "One day I'll be waiting there / No empty bench in Soho Square".[32]
The Lindisfarne album Elvis Lives On the Moon also includes a song named "Soho Square".[33]
Nearby places (not adjoining)
- Tottenham Court Road tube station
- Oxford Street, to the north
- Charing Cross Road, to the east
See also
Notes and references
- Notes
- Hans Willem Bentinck (created Earl of Portland) right-hand man to King William (III and of Orange).
- References
- ^ 'Soho Square Area: Portland Estate, Soho Square Garden', in Survey of London: Volumes 33 and 34, St Anne Soho, ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1966), pp. 51–53. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols33-4/pp51-53 [accessed 13 November 2018].
- ^ St Anne Soho, pp. 51–53. Date accessed: 12 January 2008.
- ^ a b c d e Sheppard, F.H.W. (1966). Survey of London XXXIII Parish of St Anne Soho – Soho Square Area: Portland Estate: Introduction. London: The Athlone Press University of London. p. 89.
- ^ Photo of the statue Archived 30 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-674-01371-1.
... the famous magic brothel, the White House at Soho Square, in which commercial sex was enhanced by dark, baroque special-effects and natural magic devices
- ^ ISBN 978-0-230-73878-2.
- ^ "Bomb shelter under Soho Square could be London's next top restaurant venue, London Evening Standard, 2015
- ^ "Burroughes & Watts® Heritage".
- '^ Anderson, Ross, Pulling a Rabbit out of a Hat Retrieved 20 August 2023
- ^ Gallacher, Terry (30 September 2011). "Movietone News, the first days". Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- ^ Gallacher, Terry. "British Movietonews – the process from idea to screen". Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- ^ "British History Online: No. 22 Soho Square". University of London & History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- ^ Benjamin Frankel in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
- ^ Obituary at The Guardian 20 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ Historic England. "Central timber framed arbour/tool shed (1249910)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ "Little House in Center of Soho Square".
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1236281)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1264681)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1236282)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "The French Protestant Church, Grade II* (1236282)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1264682)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "13, Grade II* (1236284)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1236285)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1264683)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "St Patrick's Church - Grade II* (1264683)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1236302)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "House of St Barnabas - Grade I (1066753)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1264651)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1236303)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1236304)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ http://hurtfew.wikispaces.com/Jonathan+Strange [dead link]
- ^ "Bench in Soho Square". Kirsty MacColl. 12 August 2001. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ "Elvis Lives On the Moon (1993) | discography | Lindisfarne – the official website". Archived from the original on 25 March 2014.
External links
- Media related to Soho Square at Wikimedia Commons
- Pictures of Soho Square