Harrington Square

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Short description|Garden square in Central London}}

{{Infobox park

| name = Harrington Square

| alt_name =

| image =

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| type = Garden square

| location = London, {{postcode|NW|1}}
United Kingdom

| publictransit = {{rint|london|underground}} {{lus|Mornington Crescent}}

| coordinates = {{coord|51|31|59|N|0|8|20|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}

| area = {{convert|0.5|hectare|1}}

| created = 1843

| operator =

}}

File:Harrington Square Camden - geograph.org.uk - 1593060.jpg

File:Carreras Building.jpg

Harrington Square is a garden square in the Camden Town area of London, England. It is located at the northern end of Hampstead Road and next to Mornington Crescent tube station.

Despite its name, Harrington Square is a triangle, bordered to the west by Hampstead Road and bordered to the north-east by south by properties addressed as 'Harrington Square' itself. In the middle is Harrington Square Gardens which is a public green space. Numbers 15 to 24, which form the entirety of the north-eastern side except Hurdwick House, are grade II listed buildings.{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1378736|title=NUMBER 15 TO 24 AND AREA RAILINGS, Camden - 1378736 | Historic England|website=historicengland.org.uk}} The south side of the square is dominated by the Ampthill Square Estate.

The square was laid out in 1843 as part of the Bedford Estate.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZKHAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|title=Walk With Me Charles Dickens|first=John|last=Costella|date=July 12, 2014|publisher=Author House|isbn=9781491889121|via=Google Books}} Soon after being built, it was home to William Mudford and to Margaret Oliphant.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHcyBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT8950|title=Delphi Works of Margaret Oliphant with Complete Stories of the Seen and Unseen|first=Margaret|last=Oliphant|date=March 13, 2015|publisher=Delphi Classics|isbn=9781910630822|via=Google Books}} Alexander Graham Bell lived in Harrington Square with his grandfather when a teenager, in what Bell called "the turning point of my whole career".{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kLLWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT30|title=Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude|first=Robert V.|last=Bruce|date=March 15, 2020|publisher=Plunkett Lake Press|via=Google Books}} Oliver Lodge lived in the square.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7M6YQpCEQOEC&pg=PA131|title=Past Years: An Autobiography|first=Oliver|last=Lodge|date=July 12, 2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108052702|via=Google Books}}

Harrington Square was originally part of a pair of squares, with Mornington Crescent Gardens on the other side of Hampstead Road, but Mornington Crescent Gardens were built on to create the Carreras Cigarette Factory, which fronts on to Harrington Square, in the 1920s. The south side of the square originally had terraces similar to the listed north-eastern side, but was bombed in World War II and replaced by the modern Ampthill Square Estate.

Harrington Square has been the location of a number of murders recently, including one in 2012,{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/london-stab-central-check-how-many-knife-attacks-were-reported-your-postcode-1529728|title=London stab central: Check how many knife attacks were reported in your postcode|date=November 20, 2015|website=International Business Times UK}} one in 2018{{Cite web|url=http://camdennewjournal.com/article/hundreds-in-march-against-knife-violence-in-wake-of-camden-murders|title=Hundreds join march against knife violence in wake of Camden murders|website=Camden New Journal}} and one in 2020.{{Cite web|url=http://camdennewjournal.com/article/man-dies-after-suffering-stab-injuries|title=Man dies after suffering stab injuries|website=Camden New Journal}}