Charlotte Street is a street in

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia ( ) is a district of central London, England, near the West End. Its eastern part 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 urbanised in ...

, historically part of the parish and borough of St Pancras, in

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 ...

. It has been described, together with its northern and southern extensions (Fitzroy Street and Rathbone Place), as the ''spine of Fitzrovia''. The southern half of the street has many restaurants and cafes, and a lively nightlife; the northern part is more mixed in character, and includes the large office building of the advertising agency

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi and Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency ...

, and a

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

student hall of residence, Astor College. The street has a significant residential population living above the ground floor. It gives its name to two architectural Conservation Areas: Charlotte Street conservation area (Camden) and Charlotte Street West conservation area (City of Westminster)

History

Charlotte Street, formed in 1763, was named in honour of Queen Charlotte who married King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

in 1761. Together with Charlotte Place (previously ''Little Charlotte Street''), it was one of four streets in and around Fitzrovia which took her name. The other two have since been renamed Hallam Street and Bloomsbury Street. Fitzrovia itself was named after the Fitzroy Tavern, a public house on Charlotte Street. From the 19th century onward, the parish and borough of St Pancras was home to a large, mostly middle-class, German population. Charlotte Street and the surrounding locality was a thriving centre of this community, and the street acquired the nickname ''Charlottenstrasse'', after its famous

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

namesake. Other areas of St Pancras which had a large German community included

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...

and nearby Kings Cross, where the German Gymnasium (now a restaurant) survives as a legacy. The parish and borough boundaries of St Pancras (now part of the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

) and the parish and borough of

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

ran through the area, mostly along Cleveland Street; these ancient boundaries, which are many centuries old, have been inherited by the modern boroughs. Charlotte Street (and Charlotte Place) were wholly in St Pancras, but a minor adjustment to that boundary around 1900 now means that a small part of the boundary separating the London Borough of Camden and the

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 ...

runs along a short section of Charlotte Street.

Location

The nearest tube station is Goodge Street to the east. Goodge Street itself crosses Charlotte Street halfway up. To the east and parallel with Charlotte Street is

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...

. To the south is

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

Notable buildings

The street has a mix of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century buildings and has reputation for its numerous restaurants serving a wide range of cuisine. Sass's Academy, an important art school founded in the early 19th century by Henry Sass, was located in a house at 6 Charlotte Street, on the corner with Streatham Street. Many notable British artists such as William Powell Frith, John Millais, Charles West Cope, William Edward Frost and

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

received their early training there. In 1842 its management passed to Francis Stephen Cary. (This refers to the Charlotte Street that has since been renamed Bloomsbury Street.) The Scala Theatre, opened in 1905, was located on Charlotte Street. A theatre first stood on the site in 1772. From 1865 to 1882, the theatre was known as the Prince of Wales's Theatre. It was demolished in 1969, after being destroyed by a fire. The Fitzroy Tavern at 16 Charlotte Street was built as a coffeehouse in 1883. It became famous during the 1920s to the mid-1950s as a meeting place for

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

s and bohemians, including

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pa ...

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...

, and

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

. The original

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television headquarters was at 60 Charlotte Street, before the channel moved to 124 Horseferry Road in 1994. The commercial radio station Xfm London originally had its studios in Charlotte Street before moving to

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...

. Gennaro Contaldo's restaurant Passione was at 10 Charlotte Street between 1999 and March 2009. The Charlotte Street Hotel is a

boutique hotel Boutique hotels are small-capacity Hotel, hotels that provide more personalized service than typical hotels. They typically have fewer than a hundred rooms, and are considered more "trendy" and "intimate", often due to their location in urban ar ...

that opened at 15 Charlotte Street in 2000, its interiors decorated with modern British art. The Charlotte Street Gallery is at 28 Charlotte Street.

Notable residents

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

, the English Romantic painter, died at 76 Charlotte Street on 31 March 1837. * The artist and traveller Edward Thomas Daniell was born on 6 June 1804 at Charlotte Street. *The late 18th century painter George Morland lived in Charlotte Street. * Pierre-Noël Violet, early 19th century miniaturist painter, lived in Charlotte Street. * Wadham Wyndham purchased a house in Charlotte Street in 1771 and died there in 1812. * Theresa Berkley was an early 19th-century

dominatrix A dominatrix ( ; or dominatrices ), or domme, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. The BDSM practice is called female dominance, or femdom. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily l ...

who ran a brothel in at 28 Charlotte Street (now 84–94 Hallam Street), specialising in

flagellation Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, Birching, rods, Switch (rod), switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, floggin ...

. *The Victorian artist William Powell Frith studied at Sass's Academy. *The painter R. R. McIan, noted for his romantic portrayals of Scottish Highlanders, lived at No. 36 *The poet Charlotte Mew lived at No. 64 *The architect

Sir Robert Smirke Sir Robert Smirke (1 October 1780 – 18 April 1867) was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture, though he also used other architectural styles (such as Gothic and Tudor). As an attached (i.e. official) arch ...

lived at No. 81 from 1786 to 1804. The family home of

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romanticism, romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well k ...

and

, associated with the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossett ...

, were at 38 Charlotte Street (now 105 Hallam Street) and later at 50 Charlotte Street.Packer, Lona Mosk (1963) ''Christina Rossetti'' University of California Press pp. 13–17Lindsay Duguid, "Rossetti, Christina Georgina" (1830–1894)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, Jan 2009

References

External links