Portland Place
Encyclopedia
Marylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
district of central London
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
History and topography
The street was laid out by the brothers RobertRobert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
and James Adam for the Duke of Portland in the late 18th century and originally ran north from the gardens of a detached mansion called Foley House. It was said that the width of the street was conditioned by the Duke's obligation to his tenant, Lord Foley, that his views to the north would not be interfered with.
In the early 19th century Portland Place was incorporated into the royal route from Carlton House to Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
developed for the Prince Regent
Prince Regent
A prince regent is a prince who rules a monarchy as regent instead of a monarch, e.g., due to the Sovereign's incapacity or absence ....
by John Nash
John Nash (architect)
John Nash was a British architect responsible for much of the layout of Regency London.-Biography:Born in Lambeth, London, the son of a Welsh millwright, Nash trained with the architect Sir Robert Taylor. He established his own practice in 1777, but his career was initially unsuccessful and...
. The street is unusually wide for central London (33 metres / 110 feet). It still contains many of the spacious Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
terraced house
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
s built by the Adams, as well as some early 20th century buildings and a few post World War II bombing
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
infills.
In administrative terms, Portland Place lies within the City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
's Marylebone High Street
Marylebone High Street
Marylebone High Street is a shopping street in London, running sub-parallel to Baker Street and terminating at its northern end at the junction with the Marylebone Road...
Ward as well as the Harley Street Conservation Area.
Residents and buildings
Many of the houses are now occupied by company headquarters, professional bodies, embassies and charities (including the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund at No 67). The landmark building of Royal Institute of British ArchitectsRoyal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
sits directly opposite the Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
embassy; for years practitioners of Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
have mounted a silent protest in front of the former and facing the latter. Other foreign diplomatic institutions include the Polish Embassy
Polish Embassy, London
The Embassy of Poland in London is the diplomatic mission of Poland to the United Kingdom. The chancery is located at 47 Portland Place, London.-Main chancery building:...
, the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Embassy, the Kenyan
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
High Commission and the Colombian
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
Consulate. In addition, Portland Place remains a fashionable address with some very exclusive blocks of mansion flats.
Its northern end opens into Nash's elegant stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
semicircular Park Crescent
Park Crescent, London
Park Crescent is at the north end of Portland Place and south of Marylebone Road in London, England. It consists of elegant stuccoed semicircular terraced houses by the architect John Nash work started in 1806, but the builder Charles Mayor went bankrupt after 6 houses had been built and was only...
, which in turn leads on to Park Square and Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
. There are two landmark buildings at the south end of the street, although both are technically in Langham Place: the grand late Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
Langham Hotel, and BBC Broadcasting House. Langham Place is a short road which connects Portland Place to Upper 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...
, although on the ground they all appear to be one street.
Literary references
- Portland Place was the home of Jane Gamble, the character on whom Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
based his novel The Portrait of a LadyThe Portrait of a LadyThe Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880–81 and then as a book in 1881...
. - Jane Gamble was also the real-life subject of My Courtship and its Consequences by Henry WikoffHenry WikoffHenry Wikoff was an American traveller and writer.Wikoff was born about 1811, the illegitimate son of a doctor and inherited a sizeable fortune, which enabled him to travel extensively in Europe...
. - Portland Place was the London address of Adam Verver and his wife, the former Charlotte Stant, in the last complete major novel by Henry James, The Golden BowlThe Golden BowlThe Golden Bowl is a 1904 novel by Henry James. Set in England, this complex, intense study of marriage and adultery completes what some critics have called the "major phase" of James' career...
. - Portland Place is the home of Richard HannayRichard HannayMajor-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer...
in John Buchan's novel The Thirty-nine StepsThe Thirty-nine StepsThe Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh...
. - Portland Place is the home of Stephen Jones in H. P. Lovecraft's short story The Horror in the MuseumThe Horror in the Museum"The Horror in the Museum" is a short story ghostwritten by H. P. Lovecraft for Hazel Heald in October 1932. The story has been reprinted in several collections, such as The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions.- Plot :...
. - Portland Place is featured in Daphne Du MaurierDaphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
's novel 'Julius'
See also
- List of eponymous roads in London
- August 1967 British Pathe Newsreel covering the "Battle on Portland Place" (which was then without trees)