Spring Gardens is a dead-end street at the south east extreme of St. James's, London, England, that crosses the east end of The Mall between

Admiralty Arch The Admiralty Arch is a historic landmark building in London, providing road and pedestrian access between The Mall, London, The Mall, which extends to the southwest, and Trafalgar Square to the northeast. Commissioned by King Edward VII in mem ...

and

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

. Part of the old liberty of

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

and the current

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

, it abuts

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

Horse Guards Parade Horse Guards Parade is a large Military parade, parade ground off Whitehall in central London (at British national grid reference system, grid reference ). It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the K ...

Green Park The Green Park, one of the Royal Parks of London, is in the City of Westminster, Central London. Green Park is to the north of the gardens and semi-circular forecourt of Buckingham Palace, across Constitution Hill road. The park is in the m ...

, and the

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. ...

/Strand/Trafalgar Square locality. It is named after the gardens that stood here. These featured a decorative

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...

in the time of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

that was set in motion by passers-by treading on hidden machinery, knowingly or unknowingly. Mostly Victorian buildings have been built lining the street.

Occupants

The Whig playwright and poet

Susanna Centlivre Susanna Centlivre (c. 1669 (baptised) – 1 December 1723), born Susanna Freeman, and also known professionally as Susanna Carroll, was an English poet, actress, and "the most successful female playwright of the eighteenth century". Centlivre's ...

(c.1669 – 1723), who has been described as "the most successful female playwright of the eighteenth century", spent the end of her life here, and wrote her most famous work '' A Bold Stroke for a Wife'' at her home at the corner of Buckingham Court, Spring Gardens, in 1718.Hutton, Laurence (1893).
Literary Landmarks of London
' (8th ed.) New York: Harpers & Brothers, p. 41. The 19th-century architect

Decimus Burton Decimus Burton (30 September 1800 – 14 December 1881) was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and Reg ...

bought a plot at Spring Gardens, where he constructed Nos. 10, 12, and 14 Spring Gardens as both his townhouse and his own office. The headquarters of the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...

, which had moved from the London Guildhall, was based at Spring Gardens, as was the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

, until it moved to County Hall. This building has since been demolished. The area hosted an open-air market for milk, the Milk Fair, from the formation of the Mall; this was closed before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The buildings now at Spring Gardens include: *The Trafalgar Hotel *The former headquarters (from 1974 to 2020) of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

*The

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care (United Kingdom), Department of Health and Social Care. As the national health technolog ...

(NICE)'s London site, since 2013.

References

{{coord, 51.5065, -0.1279, type:landmark_region:GB-WSM, display=title Streets in the City of Westminster London County Council