Victoria Square, London
{{Short description|Residential square in Victoria, London}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
File:Victoria Square - geograph.org.uk - 1194345.jpg
File:Queen Victoria by Catherine Laugel, Victoria Square Gardens.jpg
Victoria Square is a small,{{efn|{{convert|170|ft}} by {{convert|75|ft}}, including roads, the few parking bays and the pavements}} rectangular garden square in Westminster, Greater London, beginning some 50 metres south of the remaining stables of the Royal Mews (on the large green block taken up by Buckingham Palace) and 150 metres north of Victoria bus station, which stands in front of Victoria Station. It has a statue of the young Queen Victoria.
The main wing of the Goring Hotel separates the square from an almost identical-size space between buildings, as private gardens for the hotel. This is backed by one road, not four roads with parking and sets of pavements.
Most of the Victoria and Belgravia area is part of the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Estate as to minor, overarching legal interests, especially the open spaces and the valuable freehold of shops. This square is such an instance, which has a lasting influence on local planning policy. However, most of the freeholds have been sold, sometimes facilitated by leasehold reform under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967.
Architecture and history
Fronting the square are 26 houses, which are all Grade II* listed which is the second tier (and so second-rarest) of the pyramidal-hierarchy protection and recognition system. These are five-storey stucco-fronted properties designed by architect Sir Matthew Wyatt (1805–1886), a member of the Wyatt family — son of sculptor Matthew Cotes Wyatt and the grandson of James Wyatt;{{Cite book|title=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofarch00curl_0|url-access=registration|last=Curl|first=James Stevens|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006}} seeing them built in 1838–40{{Cite book|title=The London Encyclopaedia|last=Hibbert|first=Christopher|publisher=Pan MacMillan|year=2011|quote=p975}} to celebrate the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign.
Most of the houses fronting are now held as freeholds, the residual interest in their leases (reversions) having been bought from the Grosvenor Estate. Protection of planning law of character in this zone has been strengthened to preserve the appearance of Belgravia.{{efn|Namely by the Grosvenor Belgravia Estate Management Scheme, approved by the High Court in 1973 under section 19 of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967}}
Renovation
The private gardens were in the 2000s decade renovated; for which residents gave between £100,000 and £1M in total. A statue of the young Queen Victoria by the artist Catherine Anne Laugel was specially commissioned then installed, in 2007.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}
Former residents
File:Thomas Campbell plaque (9347814037).jpg at No. 16]]
- Author Ian Fleming (1908–1964) from 1953 until his death in 1964.{{Cite book|title=The Life of Ian Fleming|last=Pearson|first=John|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2011}} The first of his James Bond novels, Casino Royale, was published shortly after he took his house, where he threw a post-premiere of From Russia with Love party on 10 October 1963 – at No. 16.
- Conservative Government Minister, then journalist, author and travel journalist, Michael Portillo (born 1953).{{cite web|url=http://www.londontown.com/LondonStreets/victoria_square_d1e.html/|title=Victoria Square, Pimlico, London SW1W {{!}} Nearby hotels, shops and restaurants {{!}} LondonTown.com|website=Victoria Square Guide|last1=Town|first1=London|access-date=4 January 2015}}
- Poet Thomas Campbell (1777–1844) from 1840 to 1844 – at No. 16.
- Musician John Ella (1802–1888) from 1868 to 1888 – at No. 16.{{Cite book|title=The Pursuit of High Culture: John Ella and Chamber Music in Victorian London|url=https://archive.org/details/pursuithighcultu00bash|url-access=limited|last=Bashford|first=Christina|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2007|pages=[https://archive.org/details/pursuithighcultu00bash/page/n294 280]–281}}
- Army officer, artist and author Henry Hope Crealock (1831–1891) from the 1860s until 1891 – at No. 20
- Musician and composer Mike Oldfield for some time – at No. 1.
Appearance in film
In 1991, the square was used for the filming of the Merchant Ivory Productions adaptation Howards End.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104454/?ref_=adv_li_tt|access-date=24 January 2017|title=Howards End}}
Notes and references
{{commons category|Victoria Square, London}}
;Footnotes
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;References
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{{Queen Victoria|state=collapsed}}
{{coord |51|29|52|N|0|08|42|W|display=title}}
Category:1830s establishments in England
Category:Squares in the City of Westminster
Category:Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Westminster