Bird Eye Pictures of Sloane Square in 1909

Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

districts of

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous pla ...

and Chelsea, located southwest of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

, in the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (often known by its initialism as RBKC) is an Inner London, Inner London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the secon ...

. The area forms a boundary between the two largest aristocratic estates in London, the Grosvenor Estate and the Cadogan. The square was formerly known as 'Hans Town', laid out in 1771 to a plan of by Henry Holland Snr. and Henry Holland Jnr. Both the square and Hans Town were named after

Sir Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector. He had a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British ...

(1660–1753), an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

doctor who, jointly with his appointed trustees, owned the land at the time.

Location

The bulk of Chelsea, especially the east end more local to Sloane Square, is architecturally and economically similar to

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

St James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

, and

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

. The largely retail at ground floor

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

with its design and interior furnishing focus intersects at Sloane Square the residential, neatly

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

d and dressed façades of

Sloane Street Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along. History Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...

leading from the

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment (the other section is the Chelsea Embankment), a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London, England. Built in the 1860s, it runs from the Palace of Westminster to ...

promenade to the small district of

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

. On the northern side of the square is the Sloane Square Hotel. ;Exclusive housing hub Estates on all sides are made up of ornate, luxuriously furnished private apartments set behind railings — a minority of these remain combined to form large townhouses, primarily in amongst those of rows of not more than four storeys. Gothic, classical and

Edwardian architecture Edwardian architecture usually refers to a Baroque Revival architecture, Neo-Baroque architectural style that was popular for public buildings in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910). Architecture up to 1914 is commonly inclu ...

mix; the area has grown piecemeal, including in

infill In urban planning, infill, or in-fill, is the rededication of land in an Urban area, urban environment, usually Urban open space, open-space, to new construction. Infill also applies, within an urban polity, to construction on any Greenfield land, ...

, under strict character and aesthetic demands of local

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

. Elements of almost every street were reinstated, in similar style, after the

London Blitz London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

. ;Social analysis In sociology, a small

social class A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...

of London has since the 1980s been cast and to some extent outcast as Sloane Rangers or Sloanies, relatively young, underemployed and ostentatiously well-off members of the upper classes who linguistically have their own evolving

lexicon A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...

, sloane(y) speak, spoken in

received pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...

. Some are heavily engaged investors in charities, new businesses and the arts, particularly with the influx of and integration with young, wealthy, foreign-born Chelsea residents. The endurance of this class is reflected in an occasional dramatic work or fly on the wall documentary such as ''

Made in Chelsea ''Made in Chelsea'' (abbreviated ''MIC'') is a British Scripted reality, structured-reality television series broadcast by E4 (TV channel), E4. ''Made in Chelsea'' chronicles the lives of affluent young people in the West London and South West a ...

''.

History

The square has two notable buildings. Peter Jones department store designed by Reginald Uren of the firm Slater Moberly and Uren in 1936 and now a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

on account of its early curtain wall and

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

aesthetic, pioneering in the UK for a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

. The building was carefully restored 2003–2007 with internal upgrading in line with the original designs by John McAslan and Partners. This included making the three storey atrium full-height. Peter Jones now operates as part of the employee-owned

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

chain. The other is the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

first opened in 1888 which was important for avant-garde theatre in the 1960s and 1970s when the home of the English Stage Company. 100m from the Square in Sloane Terrace, the former Christian Science Church was built in 1907 and converted in 2002 for concert hall use as

Cadogan Hall Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea, London, Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ( ...

. It is now one of London's leading classical music venues. In 2005 revised landscaping of the square was proposed, involving a change to the road layout to make it more pedestrian friendly. One option was to create a central crossroads and two open spaces in front of Peter Jones and the Royal Court. The pedestrian area leading to Pavilion Road now houses the flagship stores of many luxury brands including

Brora Brora ( ; ) is a village in the east of Sutherland, in the Highland (council area), Highland area of Scotland. Origin of the name The name ''Brora'' is derived from Old Norse and means "river with a bridge". History Brora is a small industri ...

and Links of London. This option was put out to consultation, and the results in April 2007 showed that over 65% of respondents preferred a renovation of the existing square, so the crossroads plan has been shelved. Since then, independent proposals have been put forward for the square. A short walk down Kings Road from the Square is the

National Army Museum The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the " Chelsea Pensioners". The museum is a non-departmental public bod ...

. Holy Trinity Sloane Street, the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church of 1890 (50m north of the Square) is sometimes known as the "Cathedral of the Arts & Crafts Movement on account of its fine fittings. These include a complete set of windows by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, the most extensive he ever created. Sloane Square Underground station (

District A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

and

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

lines) is at the south eastern corner of the square and the lines cross under the square to the north west. The

River Westbourne The Westbourne or Kilburn, also known as the Ranelagh Sewer, is a culverted small Tributaries of the River Thames#Tributaries, River Thames tributary in London, rising in Hampstead and Brondesbury Park and which as a drain unites and flows so ...

is carried over the tube station platforms in plain view, in a circular iron aqueduct.

Fountain

The ''Venus Fountain'' in the centre of the square was constructed in 1953, designed by sculptor Gilbert Ledward.'Fountains of London'
- '
Secret London
'' The fountain depicts

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, and on the basin section of the fountain is a relief which depicts King Charles II and Nell Gwynn by the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

, which was used in relation to a house located close by that Nell Gwynn had used. In 2006,

David Lammy David Lindon Lammy FRSA (born 19 July 1972) is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenham since 2000. Lammy previously held vario ...

put forward a proposal to have the fountain

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, which was successful.

War memorial

Also in the square, positioned slightly off-centre, is a stone cross that is known as Chelsea

War Memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

. Made of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

, and designed by an unknown architect, the cross has a capped head on a tapered shaft above a moulded three stage octagonal base. A large bronze sword is affixed to its west face. The cross is surmounted on a plinth which is inscribed with the following: The monument has also been

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, since 2005.

Notes and references

;References ;Notes

External links