Great Marlborough Street runs west to east through the western part of Soho

Soho

Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. At its western end it joins Regent Street

Regent Street

Regent Street is one of the major shopping streets in London's West End, well known to tourists and Londoners alike, and famous for its Christmas illuminations...

. Streets intersecting, or meeting with, Great Marlborough Street are, from west to east, Kingly Street, Argyll Street, Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in London, United Kingdom, located in the Soho district, near Oxford Street and Regent Street. It is home to numerous fashion and lifestyle retailers, including a large number of independent fashion boutiques...

, and Poland Street. At its eastern end, it becomes Noel Street.

The construction of Great Marlborough Street began in the early 18th century. A tablet formerly attached to a house at the corner of Great Marlborough Street and Foubert's Passage (now Place) was inscribed "Marlborough Street 1704", the name being in honour of the commander of the English Army, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...

. Initially the street was a fashionable address. Out of one hundred peers

Peerage (disambiguation)

Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom.Peerage may also refer to:* Peerage Act 1963* Jacobite Peerage* Hereditary peer* Life Peer- British Isles :* Peerage of England** Welsh peers* Peerage of Ireland...

 summoned before the King in 1716, five lived in Great Marlborough Street. In the 19th century the street became mainly commercial and remains so today. Most of the present buildings are replacements dating from the Victorian Era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 or later.

Great Marlborough Street is the location of the Tudor wing of Liberty's

Liberty (department store)

Liberty is a long-established department store in Regent Street in Central London, England, in the West End shopping district.-Early years:...

 department store, a few foreign language bookshops, offices and the back entrance to Marks and Spencer's Oxford Street

Oxford Street

Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...

 branch. The European Headquarters of Sony Playstation and London Studios are also located on the street as was the London College of Music

London College of Music

The London College of Music is a music school which is part of the University of West London in England.The LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at Great Marlborough Street in central London until 1991...

 until that institution removed to Ealing

Ealing

Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...

 in west London in 1991.

Great Marlborough Street is shown on the British Monopoly board as "Marlborough Street". The Marlboro brand of cigarettes is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London factory.

External links

• Great Marlborough Street Area - the relevant chapter of the Survey of London
  Survey of London
  The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of the former County of London. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an Arts-and-Crafts architect and social thinker, and was motivated by a desire to record and preserve London's ancient monuments...