The street was laid out by the brothers Robert and James Adam for the Duke of Portland in the 1770s and originally ran north from the gardens of a detached mansion called Foley House. It was said that the exceptional width of the street was conditioned by the Duke's obligation to his tenant, Lord Foley, that his views to the north would not be obscured.[1]
In the early 19th century, Portland Place was incorporated into the royal route from Carlton House to Regent's Park via Langham Place, developed for the Prince Regent by John Nash. The street is unusually wide for central London (33 metres / 110 feet).[2] The ambitious plans included a third circus to complement Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus known as Regent's Circus; the remains of this plan survive today in the wide space surrounding the street's junction with Marylebone Road.[3]
Portland Place still contains many of the spacious Georgianterraced houses built by the Adams, as well as some early 20th century buildings and a few post World War II bombing
Portland Place is the wide street at the top of this 1790s map. At that time it terminated abruptly to the south at the gardens of Foley House.
Langham Place in Charles Booth's 1889 map was a short road which connected Portland Place to Upper Regent Street.
While most is high quality residential in a close local community, many of the houses are now occupied by company headquarters, professional bodies, embassies and charities (including Arthritis Research UK and the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund). The landmark headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects sits at 66 Portland Place directly opposite the Chinese embassy; for years practitioners of Falun Gong have mounted a silent protest in front of the former and facing the latter. Other foreign diplomatic institutions include the Polish Embassy, a Portuguese consulate, the High Commission of Kenya, the Swedish Ambassador's Residence and the Colombian Consulate. In addition, Portland Place remains a fashionable address with some very exclusive blocks of mansion flats. Number 1 houses the Institution of Chemical Engineers, number 41 the Academy of Medical Sciences, number 23 houses the Nursing and Midwifery Council, number 67 the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and number 76 the Institute of Physics. The Institute of Physics building replaced two earlier Georgian terrace houses, one of which – number 76 – was the home of John Buchan, the author and politician who lived there from 1912 until 1919, which resulted in Portland Place being the London home of Richard Hannay, the hero of Buchan's most famous novel "The Thirty-Nine Steps".[5]
Its northern end opens into Nash's elegant stucco semicircular Park Crescent, which in turn leads on to Park Square and Regent's Park. There are two landmark buildings at the south end of the street, although both are technically in Langham Place: the grand late VictorianLangham Hotel, and Broadcasting House. Langham Place is a short road which connects Portland Place to Upper Regent Street, although on the ground they all appear to be one street.
Jane Gamble was also the real-life subject of My Courtship and its Consequences by Henry Wikoff.
Portland Place was the London address of, first, Adam Verver and his daughter Maggie Verver, and then (beginning with Volume One, Book Three, Chapter Four) of Prince Amerigo and his wife, the former Maggie Verver, in the last complete major novel by Henry James, The Golden Bowl.
Portland Place is the location of the private hotel where Valeria and Eustace stay after their truncated honeymoon in The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins.
portland, place, historic, district, central, west, neighborhood, louis, missouri, portland, westmoreland, places, street, marylebone, district, central, london, named, after, third, duke, portland, unusually, wide, street, home, headquarters, broadcasting, ho. For the historic district in the Central West End neighborhood of St Louis Missouri see Portland and Westmoreland Places Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London Named after the Third Duke of Portland the unusually wide street is home to the BBC s headquarters Broadcasting House the Chinese and Polish embassies the Royal Institute of British Architects and numerous residential mansion blocks Portland PlaceNumber 1 Portland PlaceMaintained byTransport for LondonLocationLondon United KingdomPostal codeW1Nearest Tube stationOxford CircusOtherKnown forBBC Broadcasting HouseThe Royal Institute of British Architects headquarters a 1930s Grade II listed building designed by architect George Grey Wornum at 66 Portland Place in August 2012 Contents 1 History and topography 2 Residents and buildings 3 Literary references 4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 External linksHistory and topography EditThe street was laid out by the brothers Robert and James Adam for the Duke of Portland in the 1770s and originally ran north from the gardens of a detached mansion called Foley House It was said that the exceptional width of the street was conditioned by the Duke s obligation to his tenant Lord Foley that his views to the north would not be obscured 1 In the early 19th century Portland Place was incorporated into the royal route from Carlton House to Regent s Park via Langham Place developed for the Prince Regent by John Nash The street is unusually wide for central London 33 metres 110 feet 2 The ambitious plans included a third circus to complement Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus known as Regent s Circus the remains of this plan survive today in the wide space surrounding the street s junction with Marylebone Road 3 Portland Place still contains many of the spacious Georgian terraced houses built by the Adams as well as some early 20th century buildings and a few post World War II bombing Portland Place is the wide street at the top of this 1790s map At that time it terminated abruptly to the south at the gardens of Foley House In administrative terms Portland Place lies within the City of Westminster s Marylebone High Street Ward as well as the Harley Street Conservation Area 4 Residents and buildings Edit Langham Place in Charles Booth s 1889 map was a short road which connected Portland Place to Upper Regent Street While most is high quality residential in a close local community many of the houses are now occupied by company headquarters professional bodies embassies and charities including Arthritis Research UK and the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund The landmark headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects sits at 66 Portland Place directly opposite the Chinese embassy for years practitioners of Falun Gong have mounted a silent protest in front of the former and facing the latter Other foreign diplomatic institutions include the Polish Embassy a Portuguese consulate the High Commission of Kenya the Swedish Ambassador s Residence and the Colombian Consulate In addition Portland Place remains a fashionable address with some very exclusive blocks of mansion flats Number 1 houses the Institution of Chemical Engineers number 41 the Academy of Medical Sciences number 23 houses the Nursing and Midwifery Council number 67 the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and number 76 the Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics building replaced two earlier Georgian terrace houses one of which number 76 was the home of John Buchan the author and politician who lived there from 1912 until 1919 which resulted in Portland Place being the London home of Richard Hannay the hero of Buchan s most famous novel The Thirty Nine Steps 5 Its northern end opens into Nash s elegant stucco semicircular Park Crescent which in turn leads on to Park Square and Regent s Park There are two landmark buildings at the south end of the street although both are technically in Langham Place the grand late Victorian Langham Hotel and Broadcasting House Langham Place is a short road which connects Portland Place to Upper Regent Street although on the ground they all appear to be one street A Grade II listed memorial to Quintin and Alice Hogg erected in 1906 stands opposite Broadcasting House at the south end of Portland Place 6 There are a number of international independent schools on Portland Place including Abercorn Upper School Queens College and the Southbank International School Literary references EditPortland Place was the home of Jane Gamble the character on whom Henry James based his novel The Portrait of a Lady Jane Gamble was also the real life subject of My Courtship and its Consequences by Henry Wikoff Portland Place was the London address of first Adam Verver and his daughter Maggie Verver and then beginning with Volume One Book Three Chapter Four of Prince Amerigo and his wife the former Maggie Verver in the last complete major novel by Henry James The Golden Bowl Portland Place is the home of Richard Hannay in John Buchan s novel The Thirty nine Steps Portland Place is the home of Stephen Jones in H P Lovecraft s short story The Horror in the Museum Portland Place is featured in Daphne du Maurier s novel Julius Portland Place is the location of the private hotel where Valeria and Eustace stay after their truncated honeymoon in The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins Portland Place is the address of the wealthy brothers in Mark Twain s short story The Million Pound Note Portland Place is a metaphor for Septimus Warren Smith s view of the world as a strange but wonderful place in Virginia Woolf s novel Mrs Dalloway 7 In Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman s Good Omens the angel Aziraphale learned to dance the gavotte in a discreet gentleman s club in Portland Place becoming the first and only angel who dances on the head of a pin or otherwise See also EditList of eponymous roads in London August 1967 British Pathe Newsreel covering the Battle on Portland Place which was then without trees Oxford Street and its northern tributaries References Edit Taggart Caroline 2012 The Book of London Place Names Random House p 134 ISBN 9781448146642 Retrieved 4 April 2018 Norrie Ian Bohm Dorothy 1984 Walks Around London A Celebration of the Capital London Andre Deutsch ISBN 0 233 97979 4 Plan of a Street Proposed from Charing Cross to Portland Place Map Commissioners of Woods and Forests 1811 Archived from the original on 21 November 2016 Retrieved 21 November 2016 Harley Street Conservation Area Map September 2007 PDF Westminster City Council Archived PDF from the original on 28 July 2011 Retrieved 21 May 2010 John Buchan the Presbyterian Cavalier by Andrew Lownie Historic England Statue of Quintin Hogg 1226993 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 1 December 2014 Woolf Virginia 1981 Mrs Dalloway New York Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing p 83 ISBN 978 0 15 662870 9 Bibliography EditGeorgian London 1945 by Sir John Summerson ISBN 0 7126 2095 8Philip Temple Colin Thom Andrew Saint 2017 Survey of London South East Marylebone Volumes 51 and 52 Yale University Press pp 944Edward Walford 1878 Oxford Street and its northern tributaries Part 2 of 2 in Old and New London Volume 4 pp 441 467External links Edit Media related to Portland Place at Wikimedia CommonsCoordinates 51 31 13 N 0 08 42 W 51 52023 N 0 14499 W 51 52023 0 14499 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Portland Place amp oldid 1131950500, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
