Bloomsbury Square

The Bloomsbury Square is a small rectangular park in the Bloomsbury area of ​​London in the borough of Camden.

Geography

In the north of the park, the Great Russell Street and Bedford Place, leading to Russell Square run. In the south of Bloomsbury Way runs. To the west of the park is close to the British Museum and Holborn tube station is the nearest metro station to the southeast.

History

The park was laid out by Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, in the late 17th century and was originally called Southampton Square. He was one of the first small park in the style of a garden squares in London. The house of the Earls - then the Southampton House later, Bedford House, since by marrying the possession of the Earls of Southampton passed into the possession of the Dukes of Bedford, who had the whole north side of the park where there is the Bedford Place today. Lined up on the other two sides of the park were typical townhouses that time, which originally occupied by members of the aristocracy and gentry.

In the early 19th century Bloomsbury was no longer " in vogue " in the upper class. Therefore, the then Duke of Bedford moved out of the Bedford House, which was eventually torn down and replaced with more townhouses. In the 19th century, mostly members of the middle class lived around the park. The writer Isaac D'Israeli lived at number 6 from 1817 to 1829, where at times, his son, who later became Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli lived with him. In the 20th century most buildings were converted into offices.

On the Bloomsbury Square is a bronze statue of Charles James Fox, who prepared Richard Westmacott. Charles James Fox was known a British statesman, member of the Whigs and the Dukes of Bedford. None of the original buildings from the 17th century is still preserved. But here are many beautiful buildings from the 18th and early 19th century.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society had its headquarters in a house dating from the 18th century on the south side of the park, which was in part to the efforts of John Nash. The east side of the park is taken from an office building from the early 20th century, the Victoria House, to complete. It was built for the Liverpool Victoria, who also used the building for many decades. When the Greater London Authority was established in 2000, the Victoria House was also talking as a new City Hall.

The park is now open to the public and in 2003 a major overhaul.

Pop culture

• The second movement of the Symphony No. 2 (A London Symphony ) by Vaughan Williams intended to represent Bloomsbury Square on a November afternoon ( " Bloomsbury Square on a November Afternoon" ).

• In the musical Oliver! Mr. Brownlow lives on Bloomsbury Square, while he lives in Pentonville in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, based on the musical.