Portman Square is a

garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. ...

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 ...

, central London, surrounded by townhouses. It was specifically for private housing let on long leases having a

ground rent As a legal term, ground rent specifically refers to regular payments made by a holder of a leasehold property to the freeholder or a superior leaseholder, as required under a lease. In this sense, a ground rent is created when a freehold piece of ...

by the

Portman Estate Portman may refer to: * Portman (surname) * Viscount Portman Places * Portmán, a town near Cartagena, Spain * Orchard Portman, a village and civil parish in Somerset, England * Portman Estate, 110 acres in Marylebone in London’s West End * Por ...

, which owns the private communal gardens. It marks the western end of

Wigmore Street Wigmore Street is a street in the City of Westminster, in the West End of London. The street runs for about 600 yards parallel and to the north of Oxford Street between Portman Square to the west and Cavendish Square to the east. It is named af ...

, which connects it to

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public square, public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square ...

to the east.

History

Context and development

It was built between 1765 and 1784 on land belonging to Henry William Portman. An infantry

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

, Portman Square Barracks, was built between Portman and Orchard Streets; it was demolished in about 1860. At the east end of the garden, thus marking one end of

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder James Baker. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises. The street is ...

and of Orchard Street (a short link to

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 ...

) is the Hamilton Memorial Drinking fountain. This was provided by Mariana Augusta, under the auspices of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association, in honour of her late husband Sir John James Hamilton, 2nd Baronet, briefly MP for Sudbury. The fountain is statutorily protected and recognised in the mainstream, initial category (Grade II).

Notable residents

Its houses were in its first century let or rented ''in toto'' by Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, Sir Brook Bridges, 3rd Baronet,

Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (31 January 1785 – 12 January 1851), was a British nobleman and politician who played a leading part in British politics in the late 1820s and early 1830s. He was styled L ...

, George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle, Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet, and William Henry Percy.

Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are ...

, maintained his London home at No. 15.

Notable houses

About a third of the north side is in the statutory category scheme, described above but in the rarest, highest category, Grade I. *No.s 11–15 built in 1773–1776 by architect

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...

in cooperation with his brother Samuel Wyatt. First houses in which

Coade stone Coade stone or ''Lithodipyra'' or ''Lithodipra'' () is stoneware that was often described as an artificial stone in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was used for moulding neoclassical architecture, neoclassical statues, a ...

was used. Demolished in the 20th century.''James Wyatt, architect to George III.'' Author John Martin Robinson. Yale University Press 2012. *No. 20 – Home House, built by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

between 1773 and 1777 for Elizabeth, Countess of Home, and later used by the Courtauld Institute. *No. 22 – Montagu House, built in the northwest corner of the square by James Stuart between 1777 and 1781 for Elizabeth Montagu, demolished in

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

by an incendiary bomb. *No. 30 – Churchill Hotel, incorporating the Michelin-starred Locanda Locatelli restaurant. This was bought on a long lease as home of George Keppel, grandson of George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle (noted above), and the husband of

Alice Keppel Alice Frederica Keppel (''née'' Edmonstone; 29 April 1868 – 11 September 1947) was an aristocrat, British society hostess and a long-time mistress (lover), mistress of King Edward VII. Keppel grew up at Duntreath Castle, the family seat of ...

, the mistress of

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

Gallery

File:PortmanSquare.jpg, Map of much of part of Mayfair (south) and Marylebone (north) 1830 the square is top left File:Portman Square.JPG, Side-view of the south side in 2008, displaying odd traffic system replaced 2013 File:The Dining Room of 20 Portman Square, London.jpg, The Dining Room of No. 20 in 1913

References

External links

Portman Square at londontown.comPortman Square at marylebonevillage.com
{{coord, 51.5157, -0.1557, type:landmark_region:GB-WSM, display=title Squares in the City of Westminster Portman estate 1784 establishments in Great Britain Communal gardens