Hallam Street is a road situated in the Parish of St

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 ...

and London's West End. In administrative terms, it lies within 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 ...

's West End Ward as well as the Harley Street Conservation Area. Formerly named both Charlotte Street and Duke Street, it was renamed in the early 1900s after

Henry Hallam Henry Hallam (9 July 1777 – 21 January 1859) was an English historian. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he practised as a barrister on the Oxford circuit for some years before turning to history. His major works were ''View of th ...

(1777–1859), a noted historian who had been a local resident, and his son

Arthur Henry Hallam Arthur Henry Hallam (1 February 1811 – 15 September 1833) was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, '' In Memoriam'', by his close friend and fellow poet Alfred Tennyson. Hallam has been described as the ''jeune homme fa ...

(1811–1833), poet and the subject of

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...

's elegy In Memoriam.

History

Hallam Street is situated within the boundaries of the ancient Manor of

St 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 metropoli ...

. The history of the Manor can be traced back to the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

in the 11th century, when the area was divided into two manors: Lilestone and

Tyburn Tyburn was a Manorialism, manor (estate) in London, Middlesex, England, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. Tyburn took its name from the Tyburn Brook, a tributary of the River Westbourne. The name Tyburn, from Teo Bourne ...

. Much of the area was covered with forest and marshland and formed part of the great forest of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. Like the better known

Portland Place Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London. Named after the 3rd Duke of Portland, the unusually wide street is home to the BBC's headquarters Broadcasting House, the Chinese and Polish embassies, the Royal Insti ...

and

Great Portland Street Great Portland Street is a commercial road in the West End of London which links Oxford Street with the A501 road, A501 Marylebone Road. A mixed-use street of residents and businesses, it divides Fitzrovia, to the east, from Marylebone to the ...

, Hallam Street was originally developed by the

Dukes of Portland Earl of Portland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England, firstly in 1633 and secondly in 1689. What proved to be a long co-held title, Duke of Portland, was created in 1716 and became extinct in 1990 upon the death of t ...

, who owned most of the eastern half of

in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Richard Horwood Richard Horwood (1757/8 – 3 October 1803) was a surveyor and cartographer. He is mainly remembered for his large-scale plan of London and its suburbs published in 32 sheets between 1792 and 1799. He also published a plan of Liverpool in six s ...

’s 1790s map of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

shows that Charlotte Street had by then been laid out exactly as Hallam Street is today. Maps from that period show houses lining the entire length of the street by that time. In the late 19th/early 20th century, following the expiration of individual buildings’ 99-year leases, Hallam Street was redeveloped and many of its original Georgian houses were replaced by larger mansion and office blocks.

Buildings and notable residents

The street has buildings of mainly five to eight storeys with a strong residential presence. Notable residents who lived for a time in the street include the

Pre-Raphaelite 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 Rossetti, ...

artist and poet

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 ...

(1828–1882), the painters

John Sell Cotman John Sell Cotman (16 May 1782 – 24 July 1842) was an English Marine art, marine and Landscape painting, landscape painter, Etching, etcher, illustrator, and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters. Born in Norwich, the son of a si ...

(1782-1842),

Cornelius Varley Cornelius Varley, FRSA (21 November 1781 – 2 October 1873) was a British water-colour painter and optical instrument-maker. He invented the graphic telescope and the graphic microscope. Biography Varley was born at Hackney, then a village ...

(1781-1873), Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois(1753–1811), dominatrix

Theresa Berkley Theresa Berkley or Berkeley (died September 1836) was a 19th-century English dominatrix who ran a brothel in Hallam Street, just to the east of Portland Place, Marylebone, London, specialising in flagellation. She is notable as the inventor of th ...

(d.1836), the writer William Gerhardi (1895–1977), the conductor and founder of

The Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

Sir

Henry Joseph Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

(1869–1944), American journalist and broadcaster Edward R Murrow (1908–1965), World War Two hero Wing Commander

Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas Wing Commander Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas, (17 June 1902 – 26 February 1964), known as "Tommy", was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in the Second World War. Codenamed "Seahorse" and "Shelley" in the SOE, Yeo-Thomas ...

(1901–1964), the radio and television writer

Ernest Dudley Vivian Ernest Coltman-Allen (23 July 1908 – 1 February 2006), known professionally as Ernest Dudley, was an English actor, dramatist, novelist, journalist and screenwriter. Biography Personal life Vivian Ernest Coltman-Allen was born in ...

(1908–2006), and the Austrian writer

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig ( ; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world. Zweig was raised in V ...

(1881–1942). Number 50 Charlotte Street (later renamed 93 Hallam Street) was both the home and official residence from 1875 to 1910 of Jesse Claxton who was the Registrar of Births and Deaths for St Marylebone for 35 years. Numbers 44 and 50 Hallam Street, originally the offices of the

General Medical Council The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of physician, medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the pu ...

, received Grade II designation in 1954. A large number of the street's buildings have been characterised as "unlisted buildings of merit" in the Harley Street Conservation Area Audit and are either part of the

Howard de Walden Estate The Howard de Walden Estate is a property estate in Marylebone, London, owned by the Howard de Walden family. As of 2020 the estate was reported to be worth £4.7 billion. History The estate's development dates from 1715 when speculative pla ...

(originally the Portland Estate) or the

Langham Estate The Langham Estate is a property estate in Fitzrovia, London, and is owned by the Mount Eden Land Limited (Guernsey). The company controls 14 acres of real estate in central London. A third of its property portfolio was sold in 2024. Backgroun ...

(also once part of the Howard de Walden Estate). BBC NEW Broadcasting House on Hallam Street

Hallam Street contains a number of institutional buildings (including the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

’s

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

) from the

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

and inter-war periods.

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, several ships of the Prussian, Imperia ...

bomb damage was extensive at the south end of the street, its synagogue was also destroyed while other buildings experienced blast damage.

Recent developments

The redevelopment of

, whose modern rear elevation lies on Hallam Street, was completed in 2010. Its redevelopment is the

's single largest capital project ever, and has created a new centre for radio, news and world service in the heart of

. The BBC's facilities, a majority of the street's office buildings and its two hotels lie at the southern end of the street. Trees were planted along the length of the street in 2009 and residential fibre-optic broadband infrastructure was also added to it in 2019.

Notable buildings

There are a number of notable buildings on this Marylebone Street: *

(BBC) *44 and 50 Hallam Street (Formerly the offices of the

) - Conference venue and residential *47 Hallam Street (The Central London Synagogue) - Place of worship *49 Hallam Street - Residential mansion block *77 Hallam Street - Residential mansion block *84-94 Hallam Street (Weymouth House) - Residential mansion block *105 Hallam Street (Formerly

Cunard The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

Lodge) - Residential mansion block *110 Hallam Street (Rossetti House) - Residential mansion block

Other buildings with elevations on Hallam Street

*85 New Cavendish Street – De Walden Court - Residential mansion block & offices *1

Weymouth Street Weymouth Street lies in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster and connects Marylebone High Street with Great Portland Street. The area was developed in the late 18th century by Henrietta Cavendish Holles and her husband Edward Har ...

(Weymouth Court)- Residential mansion block *2

(formerly

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Hostel) - Residential mansion block *9

(Stone House) - Residential mansion block *10

(Warpole House) - Residential mansion block - www.10weymouth.com *2 Devonshire Street (formerly

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

Hostel) - Residential mansion block *54-57 Devonshire Street (Goodwood Court) - Residential mansion block

Gallery

File:Hallam Street Marylebone W1W.jpg, View of Hallam Street outside Weymouth House in

London W1 File:Masons Arms Hallam Street Marylebone W1.jpg, View of the Mason's Arms on Hallam Street in Marylebone London W1 File:Weymouth House on Hallam Street W1.jpg, View South on Hallam St, Marylebone London W1 File:Hallam Street before W1W trees.jpg, Hallam Street before trees were planted File:Hallam Street Launch of W1W Tree Planting Campaign.jpg, Lord Mayor Cllr Alan Bradley launche
W1W Street Tree Planting campaign
on Hallam Street W1 File:A.R.P 44 Hallam Street Bombing Report 3 June 1941.JPG, Air Raid Precautions Message regarding bombing incident at 44 Hallam Street on 3 June 1941 File:DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI 1828-1882 Poet & Painter Born Here.jpg, DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI 1828-1882 Poet & Painter was born at 110 Hallam Street

Transport

The nearest

London Underground stations The London Underground is a rapid transit, metro system in the United Kingdom that serves Greater London and the home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire. Its first section opened in 1863, making it the oldest underground metro ...

to Hallam Street are

Oxford Circus Oxford Circus is a road junction connecting Oxford Street and Regent Street in the West End of London. It is also the entrance to Oxford Circus tube station. The junction opened in 1819 as part of the Regent Street development under John Nash ( ...

, and

Regent's Park tube station Regent's Park is a London Underground station south of Regent's Park. It is on the Bakerloo line between Baker Street and Oxford Circus stations. Its access is on Marylebone Road, within Park Crescent, in Travelcard Zone 1, in which zone ...

s. Buses numbered 88, 18, 27, 30,

205 Year 205 ( CCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta (or, less frequently, year 958 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 205 for this year h ...

189 Year 189 ( CLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 942 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 189 for th ...

, 3, 12 and 55 stop within a close distance (<5 minutes walk) from Hallam Street.

References

External links

West End at War: Article on damage caused to Hallam Street by the bombing of 10-11 May 1941
{{LB Westminster Streets in the City of Westminster Marylebone