Cartwright Gardens

Cartwright Gardens is a crescent shaped park and street located in Bloomsbury, London.

West side of Cartwright Gardens in 2011

The gardens were originally built between 1809 and 1811 as part of the Skinners' Company Estate and were known as Burton Crescent after the developer James Burton.[1] The development attracted many professional and middle-class occupants although the character of the area changed towards the end of the 19th century with an increasing number of lodging houses occupying the buildings.[2]

Burton Crescent was renamed Cartwright Gardens in 1908 after the political reformer and local resident John Cartwright.[2] A bronze statue by George Clarke was added to the garden in 1831 which is set on a granite plinth that has details of Cartwright's works as a reformer. The garden is enclosed by iron railings, with mature plane trees, laid out with grass and circular walks. Unusually the gardens also have several tennis courts available for residents of the surrounding buildings and hotels.[3]

The crescent is composed of several hotels set in their original Georgian buildings. It is also home to the headquarters of the UK AJLM. The east side of the gardens was gradually demolished during the first half of the 20th century. Canterbury Hall, a block of flats built in an Art Deco style, was built here in the 1930s. It later became an intercollegiate halls of residence for the University of London. It was joined by two further halls of residence for the University of London: Commonwealth Hall in the 1950s and Hughes Parry Hall in 1969.[4] These buildings were replaced by the Garden Halls in 2014–2016, although the tower block section of Hughes Parry Hall still stands.[5]