Gerrard Street () is a street in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

, in the

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

area. The street was built between 1677 and 1685 and originally named Gerrard Street after the military leader Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield who owned the land and used it as a training area. It was developed by the physician Nicholas Barbon. By the mid-18th century, it was known more for its coffee houses and taverns than as a place of residence.

Residents

JOHN DRYDEN - 43 Gerrard Street Soho London W1D 5QG

John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...

(1631–1700) lived for a while at 43 Gerrard Street, which is commemorated by a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

. This building was later occupied by Rudolph Appel in 1851. Here he ran an anastatic lithography printing business until he relinquished the business in favour of Samuel Cowell of Ipswich in 1858. Another plaque, on number 9, marks the meeting of

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

and

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

at the Turk's Head Tavern to found The Club, a dining club, in 1764. In fiction,

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

sets the home of Mr Jaggers, the lawyer in ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after ''Dav ...

'', in "a house on the south side of that street. Rather a stately house of its kind, but dolefully in want of painting, and with dirty windows nd with ...a stone hall... a dark brown staircase ... dark brown rooms... panelled walls". A

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

commemorates

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...

at 37 Gerrard Street. In 1953, No. 4 Gerrard Street was a small studio where the theatrical photographer

George Harrison Marks George Harrison Marks (6 August 1926 – 27 June 1997) was an English glamour photographer and director of nudist, and later, pornographic films. Personal life Born in Tottenham, Middlesex in 1926 to a Jewish family, Marks was 17 when he mar ...

and his partner Pamela Green, lived and worked. By the late 1950s, with the success of Kamera Publications, they had taken over No. 5 next door and had a much larger studio on the top floor. In the early 1960s, the ground floor at No. 4 became a gallery. The director

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company Powell and Pressburger, The Archers, they together wrote, produced ...

copied their sets for the classic film ''

Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...

'', in which Green also starred.

Businesses

In 1907, the

National Telephone Company The National Telephone Company (NTC) was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British telephone company, which from 1881 to 1911 consolidated smaller local companies in the early years of telephone adoption. The British government natio ...

built a telephone exchange at 32 Gerrard Street. It was rebuilt by the Office of Works in 1935-7. The building is now used as an arts and exhibition venue. In the

Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western world, Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultura ...

, the

43 Club The 43 Club or "The 43" was a nightclub at 43 Gerrard Street in Soho, London that became notorious during the Jazz Age for outrageous parties frequented by the decadent rich and famous. Local myth provides many tales of provocative, licentious an ...

was set up at number 43, as a jazz club notorious for outrageous parties frequented by the rich and powerful. It was eventually closed down by direct order of the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

and the proprietor, Kate Meyrick, was imprisoned. In 1956 number 44 was taken over by the owners of

the 2i's Coffee Bar The 2i's Coffee Bar was a coffeehouse at 59 Old Compton Street in Soho, London, that was open from 1956 to 1970. It played a formative role in the emergence of Britain's skiffle and rock and roll music culture in the late 1950s, and several m ...

Old Compton Street Old Compton Street is a road that runs east–west through Soho in the West End of London, named after Henry Compton (bishop), Henry Compton who raised funds for St Anne's Church, Soho, St Anne's Church in 1686. The area, particularly this str ...

as a second branch in response to the original 2i's rapid success. The building had previously hosted a folk and skiffle club run by John Hasted. In the late 1960s it became Happening 44, a club with décor mixing psychedelic and bondage aesthetics, featuring bands such as The Deviants. The building later became a Chinese supermarket. A basement in Gerrard Street was the location of the first rehearsal of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

in August 1968, where they played " Train Kept A-Rollin'". The exact location of the basement is unknown, and it is believed to have been converted into business premises many years ago. Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club started in Gerrard Street in the basement of No. 39.

and

met at the Turk's Head Tavern to found their dining club, '' The Club'' in 1764. The site is commemorated by a plaque at No. 9.

References

Citations Sources *

External links

LondonTown.com information
{{coords, 51.5117, -0.1311, display=title Streets in the City of Westminster Streets in Soho