Stratton Street is a street in the

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

district of 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 ...

, London. It runs from Berkeley Street in the north to

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

in the south.

History

Stratton Street started to be built in 1693 on land occupied at some time by Berkeley House, the

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...

of the

Berkeley family The Berkeley family is an English family. It is one of five families in Britain that can trace its patrilineal descent back to an Anglo-Saxon ancestor (the other four being the Arden family, the Swinton family, the Wentworth family, and the ...

of Bruton Abbey in Somerset. The title " Baron Berkeley of Stratton in the County of

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

", in the

Peerage of England The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. From that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were closed to new creations, and new peers were created in a single Peerag ...

, was created in 1658 for

John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1602 – 26 August 1678) of Berkeley House in Westminster and of Twickenham Park in Middlesex, was an English royalist soldier, politician and diplomat, of the Bruton branch of the Berkeley f ...

(1602-1678), of Bruton, a Royalist during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

who had distinguished himself at the Battle of Stratton, fought in 1643 at Stratton in Cornwall. He was descended from Sir Maurice de Berkeley, a younger son of

Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (1281 – 31 May 1326), ''The Magnanimous'', English feudal barony, feudal Berkeley family, baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. H ...

(1271-1326) of Berkeley Castle in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, the senior line of the Berkeley family. Berkeley House and its extensive grounds (later purchased by the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has b ...

who rebuilt it as Devonshire House) is memorialised by

Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, ...

, Berkeley Street, Stratton Street and Bruton Street. On some early maps it appears as "Stretton Street". The street was originally a cul-de-sac, running north from Piccadilly with Devonshire House on its eastern side, but in 1924 Devonshire House was demolished and Stratton Street was extended from its northern end eastwards to Berkeley Street, giving it the present right-angled shape."Stratton Street, W1." in Mayfair Place, which joins the two streets lower down, was laid out at the same time.

Notable inhabitants

Notable inhabitants have included the poet Thomas Campbell, General Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch,

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival, often referred ...

and Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Both

Thomas Jodrell Phillips Jodrell Thomas Jodrell Phillips Jodrell (4 October 1807 – 3 September 1889) was a nineteenth-century barrister, land-owner and philanthropist. Family Thomas Jodrell Phillips was born 4 October 1807 in Manchester, and was baptised at St Peter's Church ...

and his great-nephew Edward Cotton-Jodrell resided at number 13.

Ambrose Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...

, the dance band leader, lived in Stratton Street from 1927 to 1940. 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 ...

marks the spot.

Buildings

Numbers 6, 8, and 15 Stratton Street are all

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 with

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

. Langan's Brasserie, formerly the Coq d'Or, has occupied the street since 1976.

References

External links

{{Commons Streets in the City of Westminster Mayfair