Montagu Square is a garden square in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It is centred 550

metre The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pre ...

s north of Marble Arch and 440 m east of Edgware Road. Internally it spans by and is oriented on an axis of about NNW, an axis lasting for four blocks west, and ten east, as far as well into the next district,

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia () is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urban ...

. Save for No.s 27 to 29 the long sides are listed residential buildings in the mainstream, initial, protected category – Grade II. Montagu Place runs along the north end; George Street along the south; both have a crossroads on the western side with Upper Montagu/Montagu Streets, each in turn one block away from retail/service premises fronted streets.

Architecture

It remains, as to minor, overarching interests, part of the

Portman Estate The Portman Estate, covering 110 acres of Marylebone in London’s West End, was founded in 1532 when the land was first leased to Sir William Portman. The Portman Estate also has two rural estates in Buckinghamshire and Herefordshire. In a ...

. It was built between 1810 and 1815 along with

Bryanston Square Bryanston Square is an garden square in Marylebone, London. Terraced buildings surround it — often merged, converted or sub-divided, some of which remain residential. The southern end has the William Pitt Byrne memorial fountain. Next to ...

, a little to the west, and first leased to the builder David Porter. He named the square after his former mistress when he was a chimney sweep, Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu.

John Summerson Sir John Newenham Summerson (25 November 1904 – 10 November 1992) was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century. Early life John Summerson was born at Barnstead, Coniscliffe Road, Darlington. His grandfather w ...

discounts the square as "a plain, uniform regiment of brown brick houses", comparing it unfavourably with Bryanston Square. The architect of both was Joseph T. Parkinson. Lower floors above ground level tend to have very long windows, reflecting the height of ceilings of these subtly mid rise buildings with elegant red stone dressings. The ground floors tend to feature paintwork, stucco and stone dressings for a contrasting pale colour. There are no letter-suffixed numbers, but 5 of the original 63 (the north-west corners) have merged; leaving the original 58 still standing largely unaltered, as

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

– they have statutory protection in the mainstream, starting class: ;Grade II *1,2,3,4,5, 6, 7,8,9,10,11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, and 63 All are similar, that of 35 reads:

Terraced town house. c.1810–11, by J.T. Parkinson as part of his Montagu-Bryanston Square development for the Portman Estate. Stock brick with channelled stucco ground floor; concealed slate roof. 5 storeys and basement. 3 windows wide. Semicircular arched doorway to left with panelled door, fluted jambs and patterned fanlight. Recessed sashes, under flat gauged arches to upper floors. Plat band finishing off ground floor stuccowork. Crowning stucco cornice and blocking course. Continuous, cast iron geometric patterned balcony to 1st floor. Cast iron area railings with urn finials."

Famous residents

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

, prolific 19th century author famous for his series of Barchester novels based on a fictitious cathedral city – at No.39 from 1873. * Robert "Romeo" Coates, an early 19th century eccentric – at No.28 in the last years of his life. *

Jews' College The London School of Jewish Studies (commonly known as LSJS, originally founded as Jews' College) is a London-based organisation providing adult educational courses and training to the wider Jewish community. Since 2012 LSJS also offers rabbini ...

occupied No.11 from 1954 to the early 1980s. *

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

when he was separated from

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, '' Th ...

– at No.13 in December 1962 *

Henry Grissell Henry Grissell (4 July 1817 – 31 January 1883), sometimes known as "Iron Henry", was an English foundry-man who was responsible for the ironwork in a number of prestigious buildings in England, Russia, Austria, and Egypt. Early life and educat ...

, 19th century foundryman of prestigious and ornate ironworks. *

Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope (12 March 1776 – 23 June 1839) was a British aristocrat, adventurer, antiquarian, and one of the most famous travellers of her age. Her archaeological excavation of Ashkelon in 1815 is considered the first to ...

, British socialite, adventurer and traveler. *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

bought the basement flat at No.34 in the late 1960s.

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

lived there for a time after Starr moved to Sunny Heights. After Hendrix's departure,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

's mother-in-law Lillian Powell stayed there occasionally, while Lennon himself moved there with

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

, in the early months of their relationship. *

Noelle Reno Elizabeth Noelle Reno (born December 25, 1983), known as Noelle Reno, is an American marketing leader, public speaker, and influencer who currently lives in London, United Kingdom. Early life Reno was born in Phoenix, Arizona, to parents Carole ...

, fashion model, shared the 4th floor penthouse at No.33 with wayward property financier Scot Young, who jumped to his death from there in December 2014. *

Gavin Rossdale Gavin McGregor Rossdale (born 30 October 1965) is an English guitarist and actor, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush. He helped form Bush in 1992; on the band's separation in 2002, he became the lead singer ...

, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush.

Trivia

Numbering runs 1 to 63 consecutively, anti-clockwise; traffic circulates clockwise (plus two-way at short ends). Montagu Court (similar age to Brymon Court) has merged No.s 27 to 29 at the north end of Montagu Square. Brymon Court has merged No.s 31, 32 with the first two even numbers of Upper Montagu Street.

References

{{Reflist

External links

LondonTown.com guide to Montagu Square
Squares in the City of Westminster Portman estate Garden squares in London Communal gardens