Berkeley Square

Berkeley Square /ˈbɑːrkliː/ is a green town square (public garden square) in Mayfair in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. It was laid out, extending further south, in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent.

This article is about the town square in London. For other uses, see Berkeley Square (disambiguation).

Berkeley Square in 1830.
Berkeley Square, 2005
Berkeley Square, 2007
Berkeley Square

The gardens' very large London Plane trees are among the oldest in central London, planted in 1789. One in the east is a Great Tree of London.

Description

Buildings

Its buildings were predominantly residential, one remains wholly so, No.48.[lower-alpha 1] The square is mostly offices typical of Mayfair including bluechips' meeting spaces, hedge funds, niche headhunters and wealth management businesses.

The buildings' architects included Robert Adam but 9 Fitzmaurice Place (since 1935 home of the Lansdowne Club, earlier known as Shelb(o)urne then Lansdowne House — all three names referring to the same branch of one family) is now on the south corner's approach ("Fitzmaurice Place"). The daring staircase-hall of No.44 is sometimes considered William Kent's masterpiece.[1] Gunter's Tea Shop, founded under a different name in 1757, used to trade here.

50 Berkeley Square is allegedly haunted; it used to be occupied by Maggs Brothers Antiquarian Booksellers.[2]

Approach ways include Berkeley Street, Curzon Street, and Hill Street.

Gardens

The gardens of Berkeley Square are Grade II listed (are in the initial category) on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[3]

The square features a sculptural fountain by Alexander Munro, a Pre-Raphaelite sculptor, made in 1865. On the eastern side is a bronze sculpture of Velasquez' Reina Mariana by Manolo Valdes.

In 2008, one of the trees was said to be the "most valuable street tree in Britain" by the London Tree Officers Association, in terms of its size, health, historical significance and the number of people who live near to it.[4]

History

The square is among those[lower-alpha 2] that demonstrate non-waiver of (no later agreement to forego) restrictive covenants. In 1696, Berkeley House on Piccadilly became Devonshire House when John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton, sold it by deed to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire. With express intent to bind later owners Berkeley undertook not to build on land retained very directly behind the house, so keeping the Duke's house's rear view. The southernmost portion saw either a breach and passage of 20 years without claim (the limitation period of deeds) or a release of covenant agreement struck up - it was until about 1930 legally required green space, namely gardens of 9 Fitzmaurice Place.[5] They became the new south side of the square.

Famous residents

Residents have included:

At Lansdowne House, formerly on the square:

Fictional residents
  • P.G. Wodehouse's character Bertie Wooster lives near Berkeley Square in a Berkeley St. flat along with his valet Jeeves, not far from the Drones Club.
  • Harry Flashman, the vicious bully of Tom Brown's School Days and anti-hero of the Flashman Papers, had a marital home here with his wife Elspeth.
  • Cathy Lane, Patty Lane's "identical cousin", is said to have lived here in the theme song to The Patty Duke Show.
  • "Tomlinson", the title character of Rudyard Kipling's 1891 satirical poem, "gave up the ghost at his house in Berkeley Square".
  • Peter Standish, a character from the play Berkeley Square written by John Balderston, about a Yankee who lives in a house on the square and is transported back to the 18th century. The play was produced as a movie in 1933, with Leslie Howard, and in 1951, and on television in 1959.
  • In the 1949 comedy film Kind Hearts and Coronets, Lady Agatha D'Ascogne is made to fall to her death in Berkeley Square to accommodate a clever poetic parody.
  • Lady Emily Ashton, created by author Tasha Alexander, lives primarily in her Berkeley Square residence during the Victorian period.
  • The Marquis of Alverstoke, the main male character from the novel Frederica by Georgette Heyer.
  • The 1998 television miniseries Berkeley Square focussed on three wealthy Edwardian families and their staff living in the square.

Transport

Berkeley Square is a typical prime Central London distance from:-

London Buses route 22 passes through the square.

Berkeley Square hosts vehicle charging points supplied by Elektromotive.

See also

Notes
  1. Numbering is from 1 to 57 but many are missed; one building is named with no numbering, Berkeley Square House
  2. Analogous to locus classicus case concerning Leicester Square, a pillar of this English law, Tulk v Moxhay

References
  1. Sykes, 104–111
  2. walksoflondon.co.uk Archived 22 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine—50 Berkeley Square, The Most Haunted House In London, accessed 2008-02-08.
  3. Historic England, "Berkeley Square (1000516)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 22 March 2018
  4. "Plane lovely: The most valuable tree is identified in Berkeley Square". Evening Standard. 21 April 2008.
  5. 'Berkeley Square, North Side,' in Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings), ed. F H W Sheppard (London: London County Council, 1980), 64–67, accessed 21 November 2015, online

Sources
  • "Berkeley Square, North Side", Survey of London: volume 40: The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings) (1980) at British History Online (date accessed 5 July 2009)
  • "Berkeley Square and its neighbourhood", Old and New London: Volume 4 (1878) at British History Online (date accessed 5 July 2009)
  • Sykes, Christopher Simon. Private Palaces: Life in the Great London Houses, Chatto & Windus, 1985

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