Riding House Street is a street in central London in 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 ...

History

Riding House Street (originally Lane) started off as a straight and narrow connection between Edward Street in the west and Great Titchfield Street in the east. Its name derives from a riding house and barracks occupied by the First Troop of

Horse Grenadier Guards The Horse Grenadier Guards, usually referred to as Horse Grenadiers, were a series of cavalry troops in the British Household Cavalry between 1687 and 1788, who used grenades and other explosives in battle. Originally attached to the Troops of ...

from 1726 to 1788.

Location

Riding House Street runs roughly north-east from Langham Place in the west, adjacent to the BBC'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 ...

, to Cleveland Street in the east. The street is crossed on its western side by

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 ...

and Great Titchfield Street. In the east, Wells Street, Bourlet Close and Nassau Street all join Riding House Street on its south side and Candover Street on the north side.

Notable buildings

There are two

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s in the street:

1 and 3 Riding House Street

File:Algerian Embassy in London.jpg, 1 & 3 Riding House Street in 2016 Currently the Algerian Embassy, this building was built by T. Phillips Figgis in 1910 (No. 1), with an additional wing in 1914 (No. 3). It was purpose-built to house the London Radium Institute, established in 1909 and opened in August 1911. It provided outpatient care based on the methods used by the Curies in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Wealthier patients could enter through the front entrance in Riding House Street with a

poor door A "poor door" is a separate entrance to a multi-unit housing development for those living in less expensive apartments. Description The term was coined by the local news site ''West Side Rag'' in August 2013, where it was used to describe a ne ...

for the "necessitous" in All Souls Place. In 1938 the Radium Institute was absorbed by the

Mount Vernon Hospital Mount Vernon Hospital is a hospital located in Northwood, London, Northwood in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is one of two hospitals run by The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the other being Hillingdon Hospital. History ...

, with the building housing the central offices and outpatients’ department for the enlarged organisation. The building was sold following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and housed the

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...

before eventually becoming the home of the Algerian Embassy in 2012.

59 and 61 Riding House Street

* T. J. Boulting Gallery, 59 and 61. File:Former premises of T.J. Boulting & Sons, Riding House Street, London.JPG, Former premises of T.J. Boulting & Sons, 59 & 61 Riding House Street

Notable residents

Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano (; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (), was a writer and abolitionist. According to his memoir, he was from the village of Essaka in present day southern Nigeria. Enslaved as a child in ...

lived at what is now 73 Riding House Street, formerly 10 Union Street, from which he published ''

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano ''The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African'', first published in 1789 in London,

'' in 1789. A City of Westminster commemorative

green 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 ...

was unveiled there on 11 October 2000.

References

External links

Streets in the City of Westminster {{Coord, 51, 31, 5.48, N, 0, 8, 32.56, W, scale:1563_region:GB, display=title