Bedford Public garden

Bedford Square is a public garden located in the district of Bloomsbury in the borough of Camden in London, with two steps of the British Museum. It owes its name with the title of the Russell family, dukes of Bedford and great landowners with Bloomsbury. Emblématique of the architectural style géorgien, It belongs to the historical public gardens best preserved XVIIIe century.

History

Bedford public garden was built between 1775 and 1783. One generally allots his design to Thomas Leverton which resided at the n°13 of the public garden, of 1781 until his death in 1824. One also quotes Robert Palmer who had worked with James Adam.

Formerly held with the aristocracy, Bedford Square is famous for its famous residents, like Lord Eldon, one of the Lord Chancellor (title equivalent to the Minister for Justice) which lived in the largest residence of the public garden. The architect William Butterfield, the founder of the medical check The Lancet Thomas Hodgkin, the novelist Anthony Hope also resided at it. The Blue Plates honouring the great English historical figures and which decorate the frontage of the houses are there to testify some. Today, the majority of the residences were converted into considerable offices because of the increase in the rents.

Occupying current:

N°6 : New York University' S NYU in London
N°16: Paul Mellon Centers for Studies in British Art
N°29: London Office off the Turkish Republic off Northern Cyprus
N°36: Architectural School Association off Architecture
N°50-51: London School off Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Occupying histories:

N°6 : Lord Eldon - Lord Chancellor
N°11: Henry Cavendish - scientist
N°22: Johnston Forbes-Robertson - actor
N°35: Thomas Hodgkin - scientist and founder of Lancet
N°41: William Butterfield - architect
N°41: Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins - writer
N°48: Elizabeth Jesser Reid - activity anti-slavery and founder of Bedford College for Women

Structure

Bedford Square represents one of the best examples of the Architecture géorgienne in London. It was built little time after the Building Act of 1774 aiming at improving the construction standards. The windows and the frames out of wooden of the houses of the public garden were thus the first of the city to being placed of such kind to minimize the extension risks of fire. However because of the cost of materials, the manufacturers eluded certain points of the new legislation.

All the main doors of the brick residences are decorated with famous stone with coade, a kind of ceramics created by Eleanor Coade in its factory of Lambeth and whose manufacturing process remained secret a long time. Numbers 1-10, 11,12-27, 28-38 and 40-54 of the public garden are classified Grade I (as well as the Palate of Buckingham or the Palate of Westminster).

The central garden of the public garden is privative, following the example many green areas of the English capital.

Safeguarding of the inheritance

Bedford Square knew important work of restoration which was completed in November 2006. The layout of its streets, pavements, as well as lighting were restored in its original design. This last had been modified by a system of road established in the years 1970.

The improvements include/understand inter alia:

restitution of the geometry of origin of the public garden by realigning the streets so that those are parallel to the dwellings;
the addition of a broader pedestrian precinct, covered with gravel and located around the central privative garden;
the addition of a new urban material in the zone covered with gravel (public benches thought in the style of the public garden, modern lighting by preserving the columns of luminaries of origin);
repaving of the pedestrian precincts in north, the south and the west of the stone public garden of York considered for its quality and its esthetism;
space of additional parkings and/or relocalization of surfaces according to the type of vehicles.

The project cost £ 740,000 and was financed by Council, The English Heritage, Bedford Estates and The Crown Estate. This restoration belongs to a vast program of restoration of the public gardens of Bloomsbury (Campaign for London Squares).

Note

Bedford Square is also the title of a detective novel of Anne Perry published with editions 10/18.

Sources

Peter Ackroyd, London. The biography , Stock, Paris, 2003.
Charles Köhne, London , Artis-Historia, Brussels, 2001.
Guide Hatchet, London , Paris, 2003
Davis Spittles, Get set for Bloomsbury , Evening Standard, March 2005.

External bonds

Bedford Estates
English Heritage, person in charge of the safeguarding of the monumental or natural richnesses
Paul Mellon Centers
Vue anoramic of Bedford Square to 360°
Free London Walks podcast

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