Praed Street is a street in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Paddington

Paddington

Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...

 district (now part of the City of Westminster

City of Westminster

The 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...

), most notable for the fact that Paddington Station

Paddington station

Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...

 is situated on it. It runs straight in a west-south-westerly direction from Edgware Road to Craven Road, Spring Street and Eastbourne Terrace.

History

Praed Street was originally laid out in the early 19th century, being built up in 1828. It was named after William Praed, chairman of the company which built the canal basin which lies just to the north.

In 1893 plans were put forward by the Edgware Road and Victoria Railway company to build an underground railway along the Edgware Road which included the construction of a Tube station at Praed Street. The scheme was rejected by Parliament and the line was never built.

Overview

On the northern side of the street are Paddington Station and the Great Western Hotel, the Royal Mail

Royal Mail

Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...

 Western depot, and St Mary's Hospital

St Mary's Hospital (London)

St Mary's Hospital is a hospital located in Paddington, London, England that was founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it is operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which also operates Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital,...

. The southern side is predominantly retail but includes the frontage for Paddington Underground

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 (District

District Line

The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...

 and Circle line) station. At the far eastern end, on the north side, is a prominent 1980s extension to the Hilton London Metropole

Hilton London Metropole

The Hilton London Metropole is a 4-star hotel and conference centre located on the Edgware Road in central London, England] It is bounded by the Marylebone Flyover of the Westway to the north, Praed Street to the south, and the Paddington Basin development to the west.-History:The tower is one of...

 Hotel.

Affecting Underground railway staff and travellers, Praed Street is the site of a crucial junction of the Hammersmith and Circle lines. Problems at this junction cause many delays on the Circle, District, Hammersmith and City lines. Westbound Hammersmith and City trains need to turn right in front of eastbound Circle or District trains bound for Edgware Road. During normal operation, trains are signalled across the junction in the order they appear in the timetable. So, if an eastbound Circle or District train is scheduled into Edgware road station first, then a westbound train would have to wait. Similarly if a Hammersmith/City train is coming off the branch, then any eastbound train from Paddington will have to wait. Typically, trains queue up to get into Edgware Road from Paddington (Circle line) and Baker Street. A further complication is that all trains are held to time by the Edgware Road signalman.

In fiction

Solar Pons

Solar Pons

Solar Pons is a fictional detective created by August Derleth as a pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.-Approach:On hearing that he had no plans to write more Holmes stories, the young Derleth wrote to Conan Doyle, asking permission to take over the job...

, a pastiche of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

 created by August Derleth

August Derleth

August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...

, had his offices based at 7B Praed Street.

Praed Street appeared in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 drama series House of Cards

House of Cards

House of Cards is a 1990 political thriller television drama serial by the BBC in four parts, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim...

, as an accommodation address set up by main protagonist Francis Urquhart as part of a plot to force the resignation of the sitting Prime Minister.

Praed Street is the setting for the novel The Murders in Praed Street by John Rhode.

Praed Street is mentionend in Ira Levin

Ira Levin

Ira Levin was an American author, dramatist and songwriter.-Professional life:Levin attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa...

's Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby is a 1967 best-selling horror novel by Ira Levin, his second published book. Major elements of the story were inspired by the publicity surrounding the Church of Satan of Anton LaVey which had been founded in 1966.-Plot summary:...

. Somebody compares a house there with the house (Bramford

Bramford

Bramford is a medium-sized village, three miles west of Ipswich, Suffolk, in the Mid Suffolk administrative district. Recorded in the Domesday Book as "Brunfort" or "Branfort". The River Gipping , runs at the bottom of the village and was a busy navigable waterway during the 19th century...

in New York) where the protagonists live: "There was a house in London, on Praed Street, in which five separate brutal murders took place within sixty years."