Berkeley Square
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- This article refers to a town square in London. For other meanings of Berkeley or Berkeley Square, see Berkeley.
Berkeley Square is a town square in the West End of London in the City of Westminster, originally laid out in the mid 18th century by architect William Kent. It is named after the noble Gloucestershire family of the same name whose London home, Berkeley House, which had stood nearby until 1733 and which had served as their London residence when they were away from their ancestral Gloucestershire home Berkeley Castle.
Berkeley Square is a mostly residential enclave inhabited almost exclusively by residents who are typically extremely well-to-do and some even of titled or peeraged gentry. A residence in Berkeley Square is highly sought after, and residences do not come up on the market very often. The limited supply and great demand has created a market where a residence in Berkeley Square commands higher-than-usual prices on the realty market compared to similar residences, even in other affluent neighborhoods.
The square features a statue by Alexander Munro, a Pre-Raphaelite sculptor, made in 1858. The surrounding London Plane trees are among the oldest in central London, planted in 1789. Gunter's Tea Shop, founded under a different name in 1757, is also located in Berkeley Square.
The buildings around the square include several by other notable architects including Robert Adam, who designed Lansdowne House (since 1935 home of the Lansdowne Club) in the south-west corner of the square.
50 Berkeley Square is the most infamous haunted house in London. The house is currently occupied by Maggs Brothers Antiquarian Booksellers.[1]
Residents of Berkeley Square have included:
- George Canning, UK Prime Minister (1827) — at no. 50
- Winston Churchill lived at no.48 as a child
- Robert Clive of India — bought no. 45 in 1761 and committed suicide there in 1774.
- Sarah Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey (Lady Jersey), one of the famous patronesses of Almack's and leaders of the ton during the Regency era; heiress to the Child & Co. banking fortune — at no. 38.
- A famous fictional resident of Berkeley Square is P G Wodehouse's character Bertie Wooster who lives in a flat there along with his Valet Jeeves, not far from the Drones Club
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[edit] Transport
Berkeley Square can be easily reached from Green Park tube station on the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria lines, and Bond Street tube station on the Central and Jubilee lines. London Buses route 8 also passes the square.
[edit] See also
- Lansdowne House
- "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" — a 1940 song written by Manning Sherwin and Eric Maschwitz, associated in England with singer Vera Lynn or in America with the Glenn Miller Band, and a 1979 film directed by Ralph Thomas.
- Berkeley Square, the 1933 film starring Leslie Howard
- Horror at Number 50, Case 4 in the amateur adventure game series Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator.
- Berkeley Square, a 1998 TV mini-series produced by, and shown on, the BBC.
[edit] References
- ^ walksoflondon.co.uk - 50 Berkeley Square, The Most Haunted House In London, accessed 2008-02-08.
[edit] External links
- London Online -- Berkeley Square History
- '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)
- Berkeley Square, Mayfair London business directory
- Local hotels, Shops in Berkeley Square
- 50 Berkeley Square - Haunted House
- Berkeley Square Cosmetics Co.
