Fitzrovia is a neighbourhood in
central LondonCentral London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
, near London's West End lying partly in the
London Borough of CamdenIn 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough were already developed and had a total population of 96,795. This continued to rise swiftly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 270,197 in the middle of the century...
(in the east) and partly in the
City of WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
(in the west); and situated between
MaryleboneMarylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
and
Bloomsbury-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
and north of
SohoSoho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
. It is characterised by its mixed-use of residential, business, retail, education and healthcare, with no single activity dominating. The historically bohemian area was once home to such writers as
Virginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
,
George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
and
Arthur RimbaudJean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
.
Although often described as upmarket and home to some celebrities, like much of inner London Fitzrovia has wide disparities of wealth and contains a mix of affluent property owners as well as many private, council and housing association tenants. The neighbourhood is classified as above-averagely deprived.
Etymology
Fitzrovia is probably named after the
Fitzroy TavernThe Fitzroy Tavern is a public house situated at 16 Charlotte Street in the Fitzrovia district of central London, England, to which it gives its name.It is currently owned by the Samuel Smith Brewery...
, a public house situated on the corner of
Charlotte StreetCharlotte Street is a well-known street in Fitzrovia, central London, England. The southern half of the street has many restaurants and cafes, and a lively nightlife during the evening; while the northern part of the street is more mixed in character and includes the large office building of the...
and Windmill Street within the district. The name was adopted during the inter-war years initially by and later in recognition of the artistic and
bohemianA Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
community habitually found at the public house. (The name Fitzroy derives from the
Norman-FrenchNorman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
for "son of the king", although it usually implies the original holder was the bastard son of a king)
The name Fitzrovia was recorded in print for the first time by Tom Driberg MP in the
William Hickey gossip column of the
Daily ExpressThe Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
in 1940.
The writer and dandy
Julian Maclaren-RossJulian MacLaren-Ross was a British novelist.-Background:Born James McLaren Ross in South Norwood, London in 1912, his father John Lambden Ross was of mixed Scottish and Cuban blood, and his mother, from an Anglo-Indian family, was described as "a magnificent Indian lady and the obvious source of...
recalled in his Memoirs of the Forties that
Meary James Thurairajah TambimuttuMeary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu was a Tamil poet, editor and critic. He was born in Ceylon, and was a university student in Colombo before leaving for London. He arrived in 1938, and a year later he began to publish Poetry London, a small magazine that was to be important in the next decade, in...
aka "Tambi" editor of
Poetry LondonPoetry London is a London-based literary periodical. As Poetry London: A Bi-Monthly of Modern Verse and Criticism it was founded by Tambimuttu and the first issue was dated January/February 1939.In a new form the magazine is still in print....
had used the name Fitzrovia. Tambi had apparently claimed to have coined the name Fitzrovia. By the time Julian Maclaren-Ross met Tambimuttu and Dylan Thomas in the early 1940s this literary group had moved away from the Fitzroy Tavern, which had become a victim of its own success, and were hanging out in the lesser-known Wheatsheaf and others in Rathbone Place and Gresse Street. Maclaren-Ross recalls Tambimuttu saying: "Now we go to the Black Horse, the Burglar's Rest, the Marquess of Granby, The Wheatsheaf... in Fitzrovia." Maclaren-Ross replied: "I know the Fitzroy" to which Tambimuttu said: "Ah, that was in the Thirties, now they go to other places. Wait and see." Tambimuttu then took him on a pub crawl.
Geography
Fitzrovia is bounded by
Euston RoadEuston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
to the north, by
Oxford StreetOxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
to the south, by
Gower StreetGower Street is a street in Bloomsbury, Central London, England, running between Euston Road to the north and Montague Place to the south.North Gower Street is a separate street running north of the Euston Road...
to the east and by
Great Portland StreetGreat Portland Street is a street in the West End of London. Linking Oxford Street with Albany Street and the busy A501 Marylebone Road and Euston Road, the road forms the boundary between Fitzrovia to the east and Marylebone to the west...
to the west.
History
The Fitzroy Tavern was named after
Charles FitzRoy (later Baron Southampton)Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton was a British statesman and soldier.The second son of Lord Augustus FitzRoy and a grandson of the 2nd Duke of Grafton, FitzRoy joined the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards as an ensign in 1752...
, who first developed the northern part of the area in the 18th century. FitzRoy purchased the Manor of Tottenhall and built
Fitzroy SquareFitzroy Square is one of the Georgian squares in London and is the only one found in the central London area known as in Fitzrovia.The square, nearby Fitzroy Street and the Fitzroy Tavern in Charlotte Street have the family name of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, into whose ownership the land...
, to which he gave his name; nearby Fitzroy Street also bears his name. The square is the most distinguished of the original architectural features of the district, having been designed in part by
Robert AdamRobert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
. The south-western area was first developed by the Duke of Newcastle who established Oxford Market, now the area around Market Place. By the beginning of the 19th century this part of London was heavily built upon, severing one of the main routes through it, Marylebone Passage, into the tiny remnant that remains today on Wells Street, opposite what would have been the Tiger public house — now a rubber clothing emporium.
In addition to Fitzroy Square and nearby Fitzroy Street, there are numerous locations named for the FitzRoy family and
DevonshireDuke of Devonshire is a title in the peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, and have been rivalled in political influence perhaps only...
/
PortlandEarl of Portland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England, first in 1633 and again in 1689.-First creation :The title of Earl of Portland was first created for the politician Richard Weston, 1st Baron Weston, in 1633...
family, both significant local landowners.
Charles FitzRoyCharles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton was a British statesman and soldier.The second son of Lord Augustus FitzRoy and a grandson of the 2nd Duke of Grafton, FitzRoy joined the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards as an ensign in 1752...
was the grandson of
Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of GraftonCharles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton KG PC was an Irish and English politician.He was born the only child of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton and Isabella Bennet, 2nd Countess of Arlington...
, hence Grafton Way.
William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of PortlandWilliam Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland KG , styled Viscount Woodstock from 1709 to 1715 and Marquess of Titchfield from 1715 to 1726, was a British peer....
and his wife
Margaret HarleyMargaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland , styled Lady Margaret Harley before 1734, Duchess of Portland from 1734 to her husband's death in 1761, and Dowager Duchess of Portland from 1761 until her own death in 1785...
lend their names to
Portland PlacePortland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London, England.-History and topography:The street was laid out by the brothers Robert and James Adam for the Duke of Portland in the late 18th century and originally ran north from the gardens of a detached mansion called Foley House...
,
Great Portland StreetGreat Portland Street is a street in the West End of London. Linking Oxford Street with Albany Street and the busy A501 Marylebone Road and Euston Road, the road forms the boundary between Fitzrovia to the east and Marylebone to the west...
and
Harley StreetHarley Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London, England which has been noted since the 19th century for its large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery.- Overview :...
. Margaret Harley was daughter of
Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl MortimerEdward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer , styled Lord Harley between 1711 and 1724, was a British politician, bibliophile, collector and patron of the arts.-Background:...
, for whom
Oxford StreetOxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
(the southern boundary of Fitzrovia) and Mortimer Street are named. The Marquessate of Titchfield is a subsidiary title to the Dukedom of Portland, hence Great Titchfield Street.
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of PortlandWilliam Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, KG, PC was a British Whig and Tory statesman, Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Prime Minister. He was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title of every degree of British nobility—Duke,...
(Prime Minister) married Dorothy Cavendish, daughter of
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of DevonshireWilliam Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, KG, PC , styled Lord Cavendish before 1729 and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman who was briefly nominal Prime Minister of Great Britain...
(also Prime Minister), and they lend their names to New Cavendish Street,
Cavendish SquareCavendish Square is a public square in the West End of London, very close to Oxford Circus, where the two main shopping thoroughfares of Oxford Street and Regent Street meet. It is located at the eastern end of Wigmore Street, which connects it to Portman Square, part of the Portman Estate, to its...
and Devonshire Street.
Much of Fitzrovia was developed by minor landowners, and this led to a predominance of small and irregular streets – in comparison with neighbouring districts like
MaryleboneMarylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
and
Bloomsbury-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
, which were dominated by one or two landowners, and were thus developed more schematically, with stronger grid patterns and a greater number of squares.
Two of London's oldest surviving residential walkways can be found in Fitzrovia. Colville Place and the pre-Victorian Middleton Buildings (built circa 1825) are in the old London style of a
wayWay may refer to:* Wayob, plural form , spirit companions appearing in mythology and folklore of Maya peoples of the Yucatan Peninsula*WAY-FM, a radio station*a road, path or pathway...
.
The most prominent feature of the area is the
BT TowerThe BT Tower is a tall cylindrical building in London, United Kingdom, located at 60 Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia W1T 4JZ, London Borough of Camden. It has been previously known as the Post Office Tower, the London Telecom Tower and the British Telecom Tower. The main structure is tall, with a...
,
Cleveland StreetCleveland Street in central London runs north to south from Euston Road to the junction of Mortimer Street and Goodge Street. It lies within Fitzrovia, in the W1 post code area...
, which is one of London's tallest buildings and was open to the public until an IRA bomb exploded in the revolving restaurant in 1971. Another notable modern building is the Y.M.C.A. Indian Student Hostel on Fitzroy Square one of the few surviving buildings by
Ralph TubbsRalph Tubbs, OBE, FRIBA was a British architect. Well known amongst the buildings he designed was the Dome of Discovery at the successful Festival of Britain on the South Bank in London in 1951....
.
21st century
The site of the Middlesex Hospital, a large part of Fitzrovia, had been acquired by the property developer Candy and Candy which demolished the hospital to make way for a housing and retail development called
NoHo SquareNoHo Square was the name given to the 95,000 m2 office, residential and commercial complex in Fitzrovia, London which was being developed from the former Middlesex Hospital building...
. The Candy brothers' scheme, which was unpopular with local people, failed during the 2008 credit crunch.
Stanhope plc took over the project, and proposed a short term project which would allow residents to create temporary allotments on the site until a new development was started. However, the Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which had a controlling interest in the site, announced in March 2010 its intention to sell the site on the open market and cancelled the allotments project. In July 2010 the site passed into the ownership of Aviva Investments and Exemplar Properties.. A planning application for the new Middlesex Hospital project was submitted in August 2011, and it is understood that Exemplar will commence the redevelopment works in January 2012. The new middlesex hospital development will be completed in 2014.
Separately
Derwent London plcDerwent London is a leading British-based property investment and development business. It is headquartered in London and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
, acquired 800000 square feet (74,322.4 m²) of property in the area to add to its existing Fitzrovia portfolio after a merger with London Merchant Securities. The company then held about 1000000 square feet (92,903 m²) of property over more than 30 sites in Fitzrovia. In November 2009 the company announced plans to transform part of Fitzrovia into a new retail destination with cafes and restaurants.
Derwent London created the Fitzrovia Partnership, a business partnership with Arup, Make Architects, and British Telecom, with the support of the London Borough of Camden. In July 2010 Derwent London showcased plans for the redevelopment of the
Saatchi & SaatchiSaatchi & Saatchi is a global advertising agency network with 140 offices in 80 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in London in 1970 but now headquartered in New York. The parent company of the agency group was known as Saatchi & Saatchi PLC from 1976 to 1994, was listed on the London...
building in Charlotte Street. Plans produced by Make Architects proposed increasing the density of the site by 50 percent and adding shops, cafes and a small open space.
Georgian workhouse
There was local-community objection over plans announced in July 2010 to demolish and redevelop the site of an 18th-century building in Cleveland Street, originally a
poorhouseA poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....
for the parish of St Paul, Covent Garden, and later the
Cleveland Street WorkhouseThe Cleveland Street Workhouse is a Georgian property in Cleveland Street, London, originally built between 1775-78 for the care of the London sick and poor under the Old Poor Law...
.
Arts
Fitzrovia was a notable artistic and
bohemianBohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
centre from a period dating roughly from the mid 1920s until the present day. Amongst those known to have lived locally and frequented public houses in the area such as the Fitzroy Tavern and the Wheatsheaf are
Augustus JohnAugustus Edwin John OM, RA, was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a short time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom....
,
Quentin CrispQuentin Crisp , was an English writer and raconteur. He became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant.- Early life :...
,
Dylan ThomasDylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
,
Aleister CrowleyAleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
, the racing tipster
Prince MonoluluRas Prince Monolulu , whose real name was Peter Carl Mackay , was something of an institution on the British horse racing scene from the 1920s until the time of his death...
,
Nina HamnettNina Hamnett was a Welsh artist and writer, and an expert on sailors' chanteys, who became known as the Queen of Bohemia.- Early life :...
and
George OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
.
[Stephen Inwood (2009) Historic London: An Explorer's Companion Macmillan p229]The Newman Arms on Rathbone Street, features in Orwell's novels
Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
and
Keep the Aspidistra FlyingKeep the Aspidistra Flying, first published 1936, is a socially critical novel by George Orwell. It is set in 1930s London. The main theme is Gordon Comstock's romantic ambition to defy worship of the money-god and status, and the dismal life that results....
as well as the
Michael PowellMichael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger...
film
Peeping TomPeeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological thriller directed by Michael Powell and written by the World War II cryptographer and polymath Leo Marks. The title derives from the slang expression 'peeping Tom' describing a voyeur...
.
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
's
Rights of ManRights of Man , a book by Thomas Paine, posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard its people, their natural rights, and their national interests. Using these points as a base it defends the French Revolution against Edmund Burke's attack in...
(1791) was published during his residence at 154 New Cavendish Street, in reply to
Edmund BurkeEdmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
(author of
Reflections on the Revolution in FranceReflections on the Revolution in France , by Edmund Burke, is one of the best-known intellectual attacks against the French Revolution...
, 1790), who lived at 18 Charlotte Street. Artists
Richard WilsonRichard Wilson was a Welsh landscape painter, and one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768. Wilson has been described as '...the most distinguished painter Wales has ever produced and the first to appreciate the aesthetic possibilities of his country.' He is considered to be the...
and
John ConstableJohn Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...
lived at 76 Charlotte Street at various times.
During the nineteenth century, painters
Walter SickertWalter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
,
Ford Madox BrownFord Madox Brown was an English painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painting was Work...
and Whistler lived in Fitzroy Square.
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
and
Virginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
also resided at different times on the square, at number 29. French poets
Arthur RimbaudJean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
[J.P. Gilbert (Ed.) (2008) Michelin Green Guide London Michelin Travel Publications p107]and
Paul VerlainePaul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...
lived for a time in Howland Street in a house on a site now occupied by offices.
Modernist painter
Wyndham LewisPercy Wyndham Lewis was an English painter and author . He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art, and edited the literary magazine of the Vorticists, BLAST...
lived on Percy Street.
The house of
Charles LaughtonCharles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
and
Elsa LanchesterElsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
on Tottenham Street now shows a commemorative
blue plaqueA blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
.
Colin MacInnesColin MacInnes was an English novelist and journalist.-Early life:MacInnes was born in London, the son of singer James Campbell McInnes and novelist Angela Thirkell, who was also related to Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin. His family moved to Australia in 1920, MacInness returning in 1930...
author of
Absolute BeginnersAbsolute Beginners is a novel by Colin MacInnes, written and set in 1958 London, England. It was published in 1959. The novel is the second of MacInnes' London Trilogy, coming after City Of Spades and before Mr. Love and Justice...
also resided on Tottenham Street, at number 28, with his publisher
Martin GreenMartin Green is an English-born writer, editor and publisher.-Background:Born in Stockport, England, Green was schooled at A. S. Neill's Summerhill, while his parents fought in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.Preston, Paul Doves of war: four women of Spain. Harper Collins,...
and his wife Fiona Green.
In
Saul BellowSaul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
's
The Dean's DecemberThe Dean's December is a 1982 novel by the American author Saul Bellow. The first novel Bellow published after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976, it is set in Chicago and Bucharest...
, the
eponymAn eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
, Corde dines at the Étoile, Charlotte Street, on his trips to London, and thinks he "could live happily ever after on Charlotte Street";
Ian McEwanIan Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
quotes this in
SaturdaySaturday is a novel by Ian McEwan set in Fitzrovia, London, on Saturday, 15 February 2003, during a large demonstration against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The protagonist, Henry Perowne, a 48-year-old neurosurgeon, has planned a series of chores and pleasures culminating in a family dinner in the...
. McEwan lives in Fitzroy Square, and his novel takes place in the area.
ChartistChartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...
meetings were hosted in the area, some attended by
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, who is known to have been to venues at Charlotte Street, Tottenham Street and Rathbone Place. The area became a ganglion of Chartist activities after the
Reform Act 1832The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...
and was host to a number of
working men's clubWorking men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
s including The Communist Club at 49 Tottenham Street.
The
UFO ClubThe UFO Club was a famous but shortlived UK underground club in London during the 1960s, venue of performances by many of the top bands of the day.-History:...
, home to
Pink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
during their spell as the house band of psychedelic London, was held in the basement of 31 Tottenham Court Road. Pink Floyd and
Jimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
also played at the Speakeasy on Margaret Street and Bob Dylan made his London debut at the King & Queen pub on Foley Street. Oxford Street's
100 ClubThe 100 Club is a music venue in London situated at 100 Oxford Street, W1, originally called The Feldman Swing Club.The 100 Club attained legendary status in modern British music, having played host to live music since 24 October 1942....
is a major hot-bed for music from the Sixties to the present day, and has roots in 1970s Britain's burgeoning
Punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
movement. The band
ColdplayColdplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
formed in Ramsay Hall, a
University College LondonUniversity College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
accommodation on Maple Street in Fitzrovia.
Boy GeorgeBoy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
lived in a squat in Carburton Street in 1981 prior to his success and Neil Howson of
Age of ChanceAge of Chance were a British alternative rock-dance crossover band from Leeds, England active from 1985 to 1991. They were perhaps most known for their mutant metallic cover of Prince's "Kiss" which topped the UK Indie Chart in 1986, and peaked at #50 in the UK Singles Chart in January the...
lived in Cleveland Street around the same time.
Fitzrovia is also the location of
Pollock's Toy MuseumPollock's Toy Museum is a small museum in London, England.It was started in 1956 in a single attic room at 44 Monmouth Street, near Covent Garden, where Pollock's Toy Theatres were also sold. As the enterprise flourished, other rooms were taken over for the museum and the ground floor became a...
, home to erstwhile popular Toy Theatre, at 1 Scala Street.
At the back of Pollocks and in the next block was the site in 1772 of the
Scala TheatreThe Scala Theatre was a theatre in London, sited on Charlotte Street, off Tottenham Court Road, in the London Borough of Camden. The first theatre on the site opened in 1772, and the theatre was demolished in 1969, after being destroyed by fire...
, Tottenham Street – then known as the Cognoscenti Theatre – but it had many names over history: the King's Concert Rooms, the New Theatre, the Regency Theatre, the West London Theatre, the Queen's Theatre, the Fitzroy Theatre, the Prince of Wales and the Royal Theatre until its demolition in 1903 when the Scala Theatre was built on the site for Frank Verity and modelled on La Scala in Milan. It was home to music hall, ballet and pantomime. Before its demolition in 1969, to make way for the office block and hotel that exists now, it was used inside for the filming in 1964 of the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night, the Mr Universe World competitions, and Sotheby's Auction in 1968 of the Diaghilev costumes and curtains. It was also briefly in the 70's, in the basement of the office block, the site of the Scala Cinema and later still of Channel 4 Television. The branch of Bertorelli's Italian Restaurant on Charlotte Street was prominently featured in the film
Sliding DoorsSliding Doors is a 1998 British-American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Howitt and starring Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah, and featured John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Virginia McKenna. The music was composed by David Hirschfelder...
. Guy Ritchie more recently made
RocknRolla using Charlotte Mews, which also features in the film
Viva Fitzrovia by Paolo Sedazzari.
Business
In its early days it was largely an area of well-to-do tradesmen and craft workshops, with Edwardian mansion blocks built by the Quakers to allow theatre employees to be close to work. Nowadays property uses are diverse, but Fitzrovia is still well known for its fashion industry, now mainly comprising wholesalers and HQs of the likes of
Arcadia GroupThe Arcadia Group Limited a British company that owns the high street clothing retailers Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and BHS, and the out of town chain Outfit, which sells lines from the other group chains...
. New media outfits have replaced the photographic studios of the 1970s–90s, often housed in warehouses built to store the changing clothes of their original industry — fashion. Charlotte Street was for many years the home of the British
advertisingAdvertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
industry and is now known for its many and diverse restaurants. Today the district still houses several major advertising agencies including
Saatchi & SaatchiSaatchi & Saatchi is a global advertising agency network with 140 offices in 80 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in London in 1970 but now headquartered in New York. The parent company of the agency group was known as Saatchi & Saatchi PLC from 1976 to 1994, was listed on the London...
and
TBWATBWA Worldwide is an international advertising agency whose headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The Agency is a unit of Omnicom Group, the world's largest advertising agency holding company. It was founded in 1970 in Paris, France, by William G...
as well as
FallonFallon Worldwide is an international advertising agency headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with affiliate offices in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, São Paulo and Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Publicis.-History:...
, Dare Digital and Target Media Group. However, the modular ex-BT building occupied by McCann-Erickson was demolished in 2006 after the firm moved to an
art decoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
home in Bloomsbury.
A number of television production and post-production companies are based in the area,
MTV Networks EuropeMTV Networks Europe is a division of Viacom International Media Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom.MTV Networks Europe includes the multimedia entertainment brands: MTV, VH1, TMF, VIVA, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Nick Jr...
,
NickelodeonNickelodeon is a children's television channel available on Sky, Virgin Media, Smallworld Cable, TalkTalk TV and UPC Ireland in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including on demand on BT Vision. The channel was launched on 1 September 1993...
, rogue and
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
Europe being headquartered here. ITN used to be based at 48 Wells Street during the 1980s, with its Factual Department still housed on Mortimer Street, and
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
was briefly situated on Charlotte Street, and
talkbackTHAMESTalkback Thames is a British television production company, a division of FremantleMedia . It was formed by the merger of Talkback Productions and Thames Television, the former ITV network franchisee for London on weekdays between 1968 and 1992...
is currently based on Newman Street, with additional offices at 1 Stephen Street.
Dennis PublishingDennis Publishing Ltd. is an independent publisher. It was founded in 1974.As of April 2010 the company publishes 31 magazine or online titles, predominately in the UK....
is based close by, on Cleveland Street, and London's Time Out magazine and City Guide is created and edited on Tottenham Court Road on the eastern border of Fitzrovia. Many other media companies are based within the area, including Informa and
Digital UKDigital UK is the body in charge of the digital switchover of television in the United Kingdom.Digital UK communicates switchover to the public, works with industry to build support for the switchover programme, and co-ordinates engineering work across the UK broadcast network...
.
Reflecting Fitzrovia's connections with the avant-garde the area has a concentration of commercial art galleries and dealers.
HOKHok may refer to:*Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, HOK is a major, international architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and consulting firm*Hok , a location in Sweden*Hok/sok system, a host-killing gene of the R1 E...
, an international firm of architects, interior designers, landscape architects, urban planners and advanced strategists are based in the
QubeQube may refer to:*QUBE, a former cable television system*Qube , a short-lived desktop for various operating systems*Qube Software, makers of 3D software Q *QubeTV, a conservative video website*Cobalt Qube, a server appliance...
on Whitfield Street, along with
MAKE ArchitectsMake Architects is an architectural practice based in the United Kingdom founded by Ken Shuttleworth after he left Foster and Partners in 2003. They have offices in London, Birmingham, Beijing, Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the practice is currently engaged in projects worldwide ranging from high rise...
.
Derwent LondonDerwent London is a leading British-based property investment and development business. It is headquartered in London and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
also have a showroom in Whitfield Street. Derwent London own about one million square feet of property in Fitzrovia: about one fifth of their total portfolio A number of
structural engineeringStructural engineering is a field of engineering dealing with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads. Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right....
consultants are based in offices on Newman Street and the world headquarters of
ArupArup is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the...
is on Fitzroy St although they own many of the surrounding buildings (which are in the process of being redeveloped into modern offices). There were once many hospitals (including
Middlesex HospitalThe Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, United Kingdom. First opened in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally closed in 2005. Its staff and services were transferred to various sites...
, which closed in 2006, and St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy, now re-opened after refurbishment). A handful of minor embassies (
El SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
,
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
,
TurkmenistanTurkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
and
CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
) nestle amongst the many and varied public houses. Retail use spills into parts of Fitzrovia from Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, which are two of the principal shopping streets in central London.
The Fitzrovia Partnership was formed in 2009 as "a business-led initiative bringing together local businesses to add value and make a tangible difference to the management of Fitzrovia." Activities have included installation of Christmas lighting in the Charlotte Street conservation area, with damage to trees described by the
Fitzrovia News as vandalism. The Fitzrovia Partnership intends to become a
business improvement districtA business improvement district is a defined area within which businesses pay an additional tax or fee in order to fund improvements within the district's boundaries. Grant funds acquired by the city for special programs and/or incentives such as tax abatements can be made available to assist...
.
CyberiaCyberia, London was the first internet café in the UK, providing computers with Internet access as well as food and drinks.-History:The online cafe phenomenon was started in July 1991 by Wayne Gregori in San Francisco when he began SFnet Coffeehouse Network...
, the first internet café in the UK, was located in Fitzrovia.
Education and research
The
University of WestminsterThe University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
has buildings on New Cavendish Street, Wells Street and Great Portland Street.
University College LondonUniversity College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
has buildings on Torrington Place, Huntley Street and New Cavendish Street. There are
University of London-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
halls of residences on Charlotte Street and Fitzroy Street. The
Institute for Fiscal StudiesThe Institute for Fiscal Studies is an economic research institute based in London, United Kingdom which specialises in UK taxation and public policy...
is based at Ridgmount Street.
All Souls' Church of England Primary School is at Foley Street. The building is Grade II Listed.
Southbank International SchoolSouthbank International School is a selective, mixed independent school located in the City of Westminster, Kensington and Hampstead, London, England. It is an international school for 3 to 18 year olds, from Early childhood to Key Stage 5...
has two of its campuses located within the area, one on Portland Place and another on the northern end of Conway street (just off Warren Street). The Conway campus houses students from grade 11 and 12 where they study the
IB Diploma ProgrammeThe International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16–19that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is recognised by universities worldwide. It was developed in the early to mid-1960s in Geneva by...
. The New! Fashion Retail Academy is at Gresse Street.
Housing and community action
During the 1960s a large amount of housing was lost in Fitzrovia and the residential community felt under threat from new large-scale building. The threat from the developers spurred residents in the early 1970s to form a number of voluntary associations to conserve the best of Fitzrovia and resist the efforts of developers to change its character.
In 1970 the Charlotte Street Association was formed to campaign for more housing and to preserve the unique character of the area. A neighbourhood newspaper,
The Tower (later re-named
Fitzrovia News) was produced in 1973 by a group of activists. The first Fitzrovia Festival was held in 1973 with the theme “The people live here!” in an effort to demonstrate that among the offices, restaurants and cafes there was a residential community that wanted its voice heard and in 1974, the Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association was formed and raised money to create a neighbourhood centre in a disused glass shop on the corner of Tottenham Street and Goodge Place: The Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Centre was opened in 1975. The building is Grade II listed.
The Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Centre remains the focus of community action and a place for the various voluntary groups to meet and is the office of the
Fitzrovia News which is produced four times a year by volunteers drawn from the residential community. An advice and information service and community projects, including the annual Fitzrovia Festival, are also delivered from the Neighbourhood Centre.
The
Fitzrovia NewsThe Fitzrovia News is a free community newspaper produced entirely by volunteers living and working in Fitzrovia, London, United Kingdom. It is an example of what has been called hyperlocal media or community journalism. It is notable because it is "one of the country's oldest community newspapers"...
(like its predecessor
The Tower) has taken a critical stance on many issues affecting Fitzrovia and the people who live and work there. The
Fitzrovia News successfully campaigned with local residents to have Christmas lights removed from mature trees in the Charlotte Street conservation area. The Fitzrovia News and Fitzrovia Festival are both supported by the Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association, a registered charity (no. 1111649).
Nearest railway station
- Euston
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...
to the north east
Paddington, Marylebone, Kings Cross and
St Pancras railway stationSt Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the...
s are all relatively close to Fitzrovia although none (including Euston) are within the boundary of the area.
Nearest tube stations
- Goodge Street tube station
Goodge Street is a London Underground station on Tottenham Court Road. It is on the Northern Line between Tottenham Court Road and Warren Street, and is in Travelcard Zone 1.-History:...
- Warren Street tube station
Warren Street tube station is a London Underground station, located at the intersection of Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road. It is on the branch of the Northern Line, between and , and the Victoria Line between and Euston. It is in Travelcard Zone 1 and is the nearest tube station to...
- Great Portland Street tube station
Great Portland Street is a London Underground station near Regent's Park. It is between and on the Hammersmith & City, Circle and Metropolitan lines...
- Euston Square tube station
Euston Square is a London Underground station at the corner of Euston Road and Gower Street, just north of University College London and within walking distance of Euston railway station. It is between Great Portland Street and King's Cross St. Pancras on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and...
- Tottenham Court Road tube station
Tottenham Court Road is a London Underground station in central London. It is an interchange between the Central line and the branch of the Northern line.On the Central line it is between and , and on the Northern line it is between and...
Books
Many books have been published about Fitzrovia. Among them are: London's Old Latin Quarter, by E Beresford Chancellor, published by Jonathan Cape 1930; Fitzrovia, by Nick Bailey, published by Historical Publications, 1981, ISBN 0-9503656-2-9; and Characters of Fitzrovia by Mike Pentelow & Marsha Rowe, published by Chatto & Windus (2001) and Pimlico (2002), ISBN 0-7126-8015-2.
Film
Parts of the film
Peeping TomPeeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological thriller directed by Michael Powell and written by the World War II cryptographer and polymath Leo Marks. The title derives from the slang expression 'peeping Tom' describing a voyeur...
were shot in and around Newman Passage and Rathbone Street.
[Newman Passage, Fitzrovia, London on BBC's h2g2, accessed 28 November 2010] Parts of
SapphireSapphire is a 1959 British crime drama. It focused on racism in London toward immigrants from the West Indies. The film was directed by Basil Dearden, and stars Nigel Patrick, Earl Cameron and Yvonne Mitchell. It received the BAFTA Award for Best Film and screenwriter Janet Green won a 1960 Edgar...
were filmed around Charlotte Street .
External links