Victoria and albert museum from thurloe square

Thurloe Square is a traditional

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. ...

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

, London, England. There are private communal gardens in the centre of the square for use by the local residents. The

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

is close by to the north across Thurloe Place and Cromwell Gardens. The nearest tube station is

to the west along Thurloe Street. The house at 5 Thurloe Square is very narrow, wedge-shaped, and only six feet wide at one end.

History

The square (and the adjacent streets) are named after

John Thurloe John Thurloe (June 1616 – 21 February 1668) was an English politician who served as secretary to the council of state in The Protectorate, Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell and held the position of Postmaster General betw ...

, an advisor of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

, who owned the land in the 17th century. His descendant, Harris Brace, had a godson called John Alexander, who developed the area in the 1820s.

George Basevi Elias George Basevi FRS (1 April 1794 – 16 October 1845) was a British architect who worked in both Neoclassical and Gothic Revival styles. A pupil of Sir John Soane, his designs included Belgrave Square in London, and the Fitzwilliam Muse ...

designed most of the houses. Sir

Henry Cole Henry Cole may refer to: *Sir Henry Cole (inventor) Sir Henry Cole FRSA (15 July 1808 – 15 April 1882) was an English civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce, education and the arts in the 19th century in the ...

(1808–1892), the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, lived at 33 Thurloe Square just opposite the museum. The building is marked with 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 ...

and is now the

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Embassy. The homeopath

Margery Blackie Margery Grace Blackie Royal Victorian Order, CVO MD, FFHom (4 February 1898 – 24 August 1981) was a British Doctor of Medicine who was appointed as the first woman royal physician to Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II. Early life Blackie was ...

lived and practised at no. 18 from 1929 to 1980. The building is marked with a blue plaque. On 22 March 1936, a reportedly peaceful anti-fascist protest of a few thousand people took place in Thurloe Square, addressed by John Strachey, against a

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...

rally at

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

half a mile away, a distance required by police direction. After 50 minutes, this was broken up by a mounted police baton charge. A critical commission of inquiry was conducted by the recently formed

National Council for Civil Liberties Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes huma ...

which contributed to the background to the

Public Order Act 1936 The Public Order Act 1936 ( 1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6. c. 6) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed to control extremist political movements in the 1930s such as the British Union of Fascists (BUF). Act Largely the work of Home Of ...

. The Yalta Memorial Garden, which contains a memorial to those repatriated as a result of the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (), held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three sta ...

following World War II, ''

Twelve Responses to Tragedy Twelve or 12 may refer to: * 12 (number) * December, the twelfth and final month of the year * Dozen, a group of twelve. Years * 12 BC * AD 12 * 1912 * 2012 Film * Twelve (2010 film), ''Twelve'' (2010 film), based on the 2002 novel * 12 (2007 film ...

'', is situated at the north of the square between the square and the Cromwell Road.

References

External links

Thurloe Square Gardens

Brompton Quarter website

The Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan website
Squares in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Thurloe Square Victoria and Albert Museum South Kensington Garden squares in London Communal gardens {{London-geo-stub