London as a whole owes nothing in appearance to the natural
configuration of its site. Moreover, the splendid building is nearly
always a unit; seldom, unless accidentally, a component part of a broad
effect. London has not grown up along formal lines; nor is any large
part of it laid out according to the conceptions of a single generation.
Yet not a few of the great thoroughfares and buildings are individually
worthy of London's preeminence as a city. The most notable of these fall
within a circumscribed area, and it is therefore necessary to preface
their consideration with a statement of the broader characteristic
divisions of the metropolis.
_Characteristic Divisions._--In London north of the Thames, the salient
distinction lies between West and East. From the western boundary of the
City proper, an area covering the greater part of the city of
Westminster, and extending into Chelsea, Kensington, Paddington and
Marylebone, is exclusively associated with the higher-class life of
London. Within the bounds of Westminster are the royal palaces, the
government offices and many other of the finest public buildings, and
the wider area specified includes the majority of the residences of the
wealthier classes, the most beautiful parks and the most fashionable
places of recreation. "Mayfair," north of Piccadilly, and "Belgravia,"
south of Knightsbridge, are common though unofficial names for the
richest residential districts. The "City" bears in the great commercial
buildings fringing its narrow streets all the marks of a centre of the
world's exchanges. East of it there is an abrupt transition to the
district commonly known as the "East End," as distinguished from the
wealthy "West End," a district of mean streets, roughly coincident with
the boroughs of Stepney and Poplar, Shoreditch and Bethnal Green, and
primarily (though by no means exclusively) associated with the problems
attaching to the life of the poor. On the Thames below London Bridge,
London appears in the aspect of one of the world's great ports, with
extensive docks and crowded shipping. North London is as a whole
residential: Hackney, Islington and St Pancras consist mainly of
dwellings of artisans and the middle classes; while in Hampstead, St
Marylebone and Paddington are many terraces and squares of handsome
houses. Throughout the better residential quarters of London the number
of large blocks of flats has greatly increased in modern times. But even
in the midst of the richest quarters, in Westminster and elsewhere,
small but well-defined areas of the poorest dwellings occur.
London south of the Thames has none of the grander characteristics of
the wealthy districts to the north. Poor quarters lie adjacent to the
river over the whole distance from Battersea to Greenwich, merging
southward into residential districts of better class. London has no
single well-defined manufacturing quarter.
_Suburbs._--Although the boundary of the county of London does not, to
outward appearance, enclose a city distinct from its suburbs, London
outside that boundary may be conveniently considered as suburban.
Large numbers of business men and others who must of necessity live in
proximity to the metropolis have their homes aloof from its centre. It
is estimated that upwards of a million daily enter and leave the City
alone as the commercial heart of London, and a great proportion of
these travel in and out by the suburban railways. In this aspect the
principal extension of London has been into the counties of Kent and
Surrey, to the pleasant hilly districts about Sydenham, Norwood and
Croydon, Chislehurst and Orpington, Caterham, Redhill and Reigate,
Epsom, Dorking and Leatherhead; and up the valley of the Thames
through Richmond to Kingston and Surbiton, Esher and Weybridge, and
the many townships on both the Surrey and the Middlesex shores of the
river. On the west and north the residential suburbs immediately
outside the county include Acton and Ealing, Willesden, Highgate,
Finchley and Hornsey; from the last two a densely populated district
extends north through Wood Green and Southgate to Barnet and Enfield;
while the "residential influence" of the metropolis far exceeds these
limits, and may be observed at Harrow and Pinner, Bushey and Boxmoor,
St Albans, Harpenden, Stevenage and many other places. To the
north-east the beauty of Epping Forest attracts numerous residents to
Woodford, Chingford and Loughton. The valley of the Lea is also
thickly populated, but chiefly by an industrial population working in
the numerous factories along this river. The Lea separates the county
of London from Essex, but the townships of West Ham and Stratford,
Barking and Ilford, Leyton and Walthamstow continue the metropolis in
this direction almost without a break. Their population is also
largely occupied in local manufacturing establishments; while numerous
towns on either bank of the lower Thames share in the industries of
the port of London.
_Streets._--The principal continuous thoroughfares within the
metropolis, though each bears a succession of names, are coincident with
the main roads converging upon the capital from all parts of England. On
the north of the Thames two great thoroughfares from the west meet in
the heart of the City. The northern enters the county in Hammersmith as
Uxbridge Road, crosses Kensington and borders the north side of
Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park as Bayswater Road. It then bears
successively the names of Oxford Street, New Oxford Street and High
Holborn; enters the City, becomes known as Holborn Viaduct from the fact
that it is there carried over other streets which lie at a lower level,
and then as Newgate Street and Cheapside. The southern highway enters
Hammersmith, crosses the centre of Kensington as Kensington Road and
High Street, borders Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park as Kensington Gore
and Knightsbridge, with terraces of fine residences, and merges into
Piccadilly. This beautiful street, with its northward branches, Park
Lane, from which splendid houses overlook Hyde Park, and Bond Street,
lined with handsome shops, may be said to focus the fashionable life of
London. The direct line of the thoroughfare is interrupted after
Piccadilly Circus (the term "circus" is frequently applied to the open
space--not necessarily round--at the junction of several roads), but is
practically resumed in the Strand, with its hotels, shops and numerous
theatres, and continued through the City in Fleet Street, the centre of
the newspaper world, and Ludgate Hill, at the head of which is St Paul's
Cathedral. Thence it runs by commercial Cannon Street to the junction
with Cheapside and several other busy streets. At this junction stand
the Royal Exchange, the Mansion House (the official residence of the
Lord Mayor of London) and the Bank of England, from which this important
point in the communications of London is commonly known as "Bank." From
the east two main roads similarly converge upon the City, which they
enter by Aldgate (the suffix in this and other names indicating the
former existence of one of the City gates). The southern of these
highways, approaching through the eastern suburbs as Barking Road,
becomes East India Docks Road in Poplar and Commercial Road East in
Stepney. The continuous thoroughfare of 12 m. between Hammersmith and
the East India Docks illustrates successively every phase of London
life. The northern road enters from Stratford and is called Bow Road,
Mile End Road, Whitechapel Road and High Street, Whitechapel. From the
north of England two roads preserve communication-lines from the
earliest times. The Old North Road, entering London from the Lea valley
through Hackney and Shoreditch as Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington Road
and Kingsland Road, reaches the City by Bishopsgate. The straight
highway from the north-west which as Edgware Road joins Oxford Street at
the Marble Arch (the north-eastern entrance to Hyde Park) is coincident
with the Roman Watling Street. The Holyhead and Great North Roads,
uniting at Barnet, enter London by branches through Hampstead and
through Highgate, between the Old North and Edgware roads. South of the
Thames the thoroughfares crossing the river between Lambeth and
Bermondsey converge upon two circuses, St George's and the Elephant and
Castle. At the second of these points the majority of the chief roads
from the southern suburbs and the south of England are collected. Among
them, the Old Kent Road continues the southern section of Watling
Street, from Dover and the south-east, through Woolwich and across
Blackheath. The road through Streatham, Brixton and Kennington, taking
name from these districts successively, is the principal southern
highway. The Portsmouth Road from the south-west is well marked as far
as Lambeth, under the names of Wandsworth, High Street, St John's Hill,
Lavender Hill and Wandsworth Road.
_Thames Embankments._--The Thames follows a devious course through
London, and the fine embankments on its north side, nowhere continuing
uninterruptedly for more than 2 m., do not form important thoroughfares,
with the exception of the Victoria Embankment. Mostly they serve rather
as beautiful promenades. One of them begins over against Battersea
Bridge. Its finest portion is the Chelsea Embankment, fronting Battersea
Park across the river, shaded by a pleasant avenue and lined with
handsome houses. It continues, with some interruptions, nearly as far as
the Houses of Parliament. Below these the grandest of the embankments
extends to the City at Blackfriars. It was formed in 1864-1870, and is
named the Victoria Embankment, though its popular title is "The
Embankment" simply. Open gardens fringe it in part on the landward side,
and it is lined with fine public and private buildings. The bold sweep
of the Thames, here some 300 yds. wide, the towers of Westminster on the
one hand and the dome of St Paul's on the other, make up a fine
prospect. Below London Bridge the river is embanked for a short distance
in front of the Tower of London, and above Westminster Bridge the Albert
Embankment extends for nearly 1 m. along the south bank.
_Bridges._--Fourteen road-bridges cross the Thames within the county of
London. Of these London Bridge, connecting the City with Southwark and
Bermondsey, stands first in historical interest and in importance as a
modern highway. The old bridge, famous for many generations, bearing its
rows of houses and its chapel in the centre, was completed early in the
13th century. It was 308 yds. long and had twenty narrow arches, through
which the tides formed dangerous rapids. It stood just below the
existing bridge, which was built of granite by John Rennie and his son
Sir John Rennie, and completed in 1831. A widening to accommodate the
growth of traffic, after being frequently discussed for many years, was
completed in 1904, by means of corbels projecting on either side,
without arresting traffic during the work. There was no bridge over the
Thames below London Bridge until 1894, when the Tower Bridge was opened.
This is a suspension bridge with a central portion, between two lofty
and massive stone towers, consisting of bascules which can be raised by
hydraulic machinery to admit the passage of vessels. The bridge is both
a remarkable engineering work, and architecturally one of the finest
modern structures in London. The bridges in order above London Bridge
are as follows, railway-bridges being bracketed--Southwark, (Cannon
Street), (Blackfriars), Blackfriars, Waterloo, (Hungerford--with a
footway), Westminster, Lambeth, Vauxhall, (Grosvenor), Victoria, Albert,
Battersea, (Battersea), Wandsworth, (Putney), Putney and Hammersmith.
Waterloo Bridge, the oldest now standing within London, is the work of
John Rennie, and was opened in 1817. It is a massive stone structure of
nine arches, carrying a level roadway, and is considered one of the
finest bridges of its kind in the world. The present Westminster Bridge,
of iron on granite piers, was opened in 1862, but another preceded it,
dating from 1750; the view from which was appreciated by Wordsworth in
his sonnet beginning "Earth has not anything to show more fair." The
complete reconstruction of Vauxhall Bridge was undertaken in 1902, and
the new bridge was opened in 1906. Some of the bridges were built by
companies, and tolls were levied at their crossing until modern times;
thus Southwark Bridge was made toll-free in 1866, and Waterloo Bridge
only in 1878, on being acquired by the City Corporation and the
Metropolitan Board of Works respectively. The road-bridges mentioned
(except the City bridges) are maintained by the London County Council,
who expended for this purpose a sum of £9149 in 1907-1908. The following
table shows the capital expenditure on the more important bridges and
their cost of maintenance in 1907-1908:--
Net Capital Cost of Maintenance
Expenditure. 1907-1908.
Albert Bridge £120,774 £1296
Battersea Bridge 312,193 512
Hammersmith Bridge 204,250 421
Lambeth Bridge 47,555 496
Putney Bridge 430,052 653
Vauxhall Bridge (temporary) 270,749 73
Vauxhall Bridge (new) 457,108 1109
Wandsworth Bridge 65,661 410
Waterloo Bridge 552,867 1102
Westminster Bridge 393,189 1491
The properties entrusted to the Corporation for the upkeep of London
Bridge are managed by the Bridge House Estates Committee, the revenues
from which are also used in the maintenance of the other three City
bridges, £26,989 being thus expended in 1907, the Tower bridge absorbing
£17,735 of this amount.
_Thames Tunnels._--Some of the metropolitan railway lines cross the
river in tunnels beneath its bed. There are also several tunnels under
the river below London Bridge, namely: Tower Subway, constructed in 1870
for foot-passengers, but no longer used, Greenwich Tunnel (1902) for
foot-passengers, Blackwall Tunnel (1897), constructed by the County
Council between Greenwich and Poplar, and Woolwich Tunnel, begun in
1910. A tunnel between Rotherhithe and Ratcliff was authorized in 1897
and opened in 1908. The Thames Tunnel (1825-1843), 2 m. below London
Bridge, became a railway tunnel in 1865. The County Council maintains a
free ferry at Woolwich for passengers and vehicular traffic. The capital
expenditure on this undertaking was £185,337 and the expense of
maintenance in 1907-1908 £20,881. The Greenwich Tunnel (capital
expenditure £179,293) in the same year had expended on it for
maintenance £3725, and the Blackwall Tunnel (capital expenditure
£1,268,951) £11,420. The capital expenditure on the Rotherhithe Tunnel
was £1,414,561.
_Parks._--The administration and acreage of parks and open spaces, and
their provisions for the public recreation, fall for consideration
later, but some of them are notable features in the topography of
London. The royal parks, namely St James's, Green and Hyde Park, and
Kensington Gardens, stretch in an irregular belt for nearly 3 m. between
Whitehall (Westminster) and Kensington. St James's Park was transformed
from marshy land into a deer park, bowling green and tennis court by
Henry VIII., extended and laid out as a pleasure garden by Charles II.,
and rearranged according to the designs of John Nash in 1827-1829. Its
lake, the broad Mall leading up to Buckingham Palace, and the proximity
of the government buildings in Whitehall, combine to beautify it. Here
was established, by licence from James I., the so-called Milk Fair,
which remained, its ownership always in the same family, until 1905,
when, on alterations being made to the Mall, a new stall was erected for
the owners during their lifetime, though the cow or cows kept here were
no longer allowed. St James's Park is continued between the Mall and
Piccadilly by the Green Park. Hyde Park, to the west, belonged
originally to the manor of Hyde, which was attached to Westminster
Abbey, but was taken by Henry VIII. on the dissolution of the
monasteries. Two of its gateways are noteworthy, namely that at Hyde
Park Corner at the south-east and the Marble Arch at the north-east. The
first was built in 1828 from designs of Decimus Burton, and comprises
three arches with a frieze above the central arch copied from the Elgin
marbles in the British Museum. The Marble Arch was intended as a
monument to Nelson, and first stood in front of Buckingham Palace, being
moved to its present site in 1851. It no longer forms an entrance to the
park, as in 1908 a corner of the park was cut off and a roadway was
formed to give additional accommodation for the heavy traffic between
Oxford Street, Edgware Road and Park Lane. The Marble Arch was thus left
isolated. Hyde Park contains the Serpentine, a lake 1500 yds. in length,
from the bridge over which one of the finest prospects in London is
seen, extending to the distant towers of Westminster. Since the 17th
century this park has been one of the most favoured resorts of
fashionable society, and at the height of the "season," from May to the
end of July, its drives present a brilliant scene. In the 17th and 18th
centuries it was a favourite duelling-ground, and in the present day it
is not infrequently the scene of political and other popular
demonstrations (as is also Trafalgar Square), while the neighbourhood of
Marble Arch is the constant resort of orators on social and religious
topics. Kensington Gardens, originally attached to Kensington Palace,
were subsequently much extended; they are magnificently timbered, and
contain plantations of rare shrubs and flowering trees. Regent's Park,
mainly in the borough of Marylebone, owes its preservation to the
intention of George III. to build a palace here. The other most notable
open spaces wholly or partly within the county are Hampstead Heath in
the north-west, a wild, high-lying tract preserved to a great extent in
its natural state, and in the south-west Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath
and the royal demesne of Richmond Park, which from its higher parts
commands a wonderful view up the rich valley of the Thames. The outlying
parts of the county to east, south and north are not lacking in open
spaces, but there is an extensive inner area where at most only small
gardens and squares break the continuity of buildings, and where in some
cases old churchyards serve as public grounds.
_Architecture._--While stone is the material used in the construction
of the majority of great buildings of London, some modern examples
(notably the Westminster Roman Catholic cathedral) are of red brick
with stone dressings; and brick is in commonest use for general
domestic building. The smoke-laden atmosphere has been found not
infrequently to exercise a deleterious effect upon the stonework of
important buildings; and through the same cause the appearance of
London as a whole is by some condemned as sombre. Bright colour, in
truth, is wanting, though attempts are made in a few important modern
erections to supply it, a notable instance being the Savoy Hotel
buildings (1904) in the Strand. Portland stone is frequently employed
in the larger buildings, as in St Paul's Cathedral, and under the
various influences of weather and atmosphere acquires strongly
contrasting tones of light grey and black. Owing to the by-laws of the
County Council, the method of raising commercial or residential
buildings to an extreme height is not practised in London; the block
known as Queen Anne's Mansions, Westminster, is an exception, though
it cannot be called high in comparison with American high buildings.
Ecclesiastical architecture.
Architectural remains of earlier date than the Norman period are very
few, and of historical rather than topographical importance. In
architecture of the Norman and Gothic periods London must be
considered rich, though its richness is poverty when its losses,
particularly during the great fire of 1666, are recalled. These losses
were confined within the City, but, to go no farther, included the
Norman and Gothic cathedral of St Paul, perhaps a nobler monument of
its period than any which has survived it, much as it had suffered
from injudicious restoration. Ancient architecture in London is
principally ecclesiastical. Westminster Abbey is pre-eminent; in part,
it may be, owing to the reverence felt towards it in preference to the
classical St Paul's by those whose ideal of a cathedral church is
essentially Gothic, but mainly from the fact that it is the
burial-place of many of the English monarchs and their greatest
subjects, as well as the scene of their coronations (see WESTMINSTER).
In the survey of London (1598) by John Stow, 125 churches, including
St Paul's and Westminster Abbey, are named; of these 89 were destroyed
by the great fire. Thirteen large conventual churches were mentioned
by Fitzstephen in the time of Henry II., and of these there are some
remains.
The church of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, is the finest
remnant of its period in London. It was founded in 1123 by Rahere,
who, probably a Breton by birth, was a courtier in the reign of
William II. He is said to have been the king's minstrel, and to have
spent the earlier part of his life in frivolity. Subsequently he
entered holy orders, and in _c._ 1120, being stricken with fever while
on a pilgrimage to Rome, vowed that he would found a hospital in
London. St Bartholomew, appearing to him in a vision, bade him add a
church to his foundation. He became an Augustinian canon, and founded
his hospital, which is now, as St Bartholomew's Hospital, one of the
principal medical institutions in the metropolis. He became its first
master. Later he erected the priory, for canons of his order, of which
the nave and transepts of the church remain. The work is in the main
very fine Norman, with triforium, ambulatory and apsidal eastern end.
An eastern lady chapel dates from c. 1410, but the upper part is
modern, for the chapel was long desecrated. There are remains of the
cloisters north of the church,--and praiseworthy efforts have been
made since 1903 towards their restoration. The western limit of the
former nave of the church is marked by a fine Early English doorway,
now forming an entrance to the churchyard. Rahere's tomb remains in
the church; the canopy is Perpendicular work, but the effigy is
believed to be original. He died in 1144.
The Temple Church (see INNS OF COURT), serving for the Inner and
Middle Temples, belonged to the Knights Templars. It is the finest of
the four ancient round churches in England, dating from 1185, but an
Early English choir opens from the round church. St Saviour's in
Southwark (q.v.), the cathedral church of the modern bishopric of
Southwark, was the church of the priory of St Mary Overy, and is a
large cruciform building mainly Early English in style. There may be
mentioned also an early pier in the church of St Katherine Cree or
Christ Church, Leadenhall Street, belonging to the priory church of
the Holy Trinity; old monuments in the vaults beneath St James's
Church, Clerkenwell, formerly attached to a Benedictine nunnery; and
the Perpendicular gateway and the crypt of the church of the priory of
St John of Jerusalem (see FINSBURY). Among other ancient churches
within the City, that of All Hallows Barking, near the Tower of
London, is principally Perpendicular and contains some fine brasses.
It belonged to the convent at Barking, Essex, and was the burial-place
of many who were executed at the scaffold on Tower Hill. St Andrew
Undershaft, so named because a Maypole used to be set up before the
former church on May-day, is late Perpendicular (c. 1530); and
contains a monument to John Stow the chronicler (d. 1605). The church
of Austin Friars, originally belonging to a friary founded in 1253,
became a Dutch church under a grant of Edward VI., and still remains
so; its style is principally Decorated, but through various
vicissitudes little of the original work is left. St Giles,
Cripplegate, was founded _c._ 1090, but the existing church is late
Perpendicular. It is the burial-place of Fox the martyrologist and
Milton the poet, and contains some fine wood-carving by Grinling
Gibbons. St Helen's, Bishopsgate, belonged to a priory of nuns founded
c. 1212, but the greater part of the building is later. It has two
naves parallel, originally for the use of the nuns and the
parishioners respectively. The church of St Mary-le-Bow, in Cheapside,
is built upon a Norman crypt, and that of St Olave's, Hart Street,
which was Pepys's church and contains a modern memorial to him, is of
the 15th century. Other ancient churches outside the City are few; but
there may be noted St Margaret's, under the shadow of Westminster
Abbey; and the beautiful Ely Chapel in Holborn (q.v.), the only
remnant of a palace of the bishops of Ely, now used by the Roman
Catholics. The Chapel Royal, Savoy, near the Strand, was rebuilt by
Henry VII. on the site of Savoy Palace, which was erected by Peter,
earl of Savoy and Richmond, in 1245, and destroyed in the insurrection
of Wat Tyler in 1381. In 1505 Henry VII. endowed here a hospital of St
John the Baptist for the poor. The chapel was used as the parish
church of St Mary-le-Strand (1564-1717) and constituted a Chapel Royal
in 1773; but there are no remains of the rest of the foundation.
Sir Christopher Wren.
Later churches.
The architect to whom, after the great fire of 1666, the opportunity
fell of leaving the marks of his influence upon London was Sir
Christopher Wren. Had all his schemes been followed out, that
influence would have extended beyond architecture alone. He, among
others, prepared designs for laying out the City anew. But no such
model city was destined to be built; the necessity for haste and the
jealous guardianship of rights to old foundations resulted in the old
lines being generally followed. It is characteristic of London that St
Paul's Cathedral (q.v.) should be closely hemmed in by houses, and its
majestic west front approached obliquely by a winding thoroughfare.
The cathedral is Wren's crowning work. It is the scene from time to
time of splendid ceremonies, and contains the tombs of many great men;
but in this respect it cannot compete with the peculiar associations
of Westminster Abbey. Of Wren's other churches it is to be noted that
the necessity of economy usually led him to pay special attention to a
single feature. He generally chose the steeple, and there are many
fine examples of his work in this department. The steeple of St
Mary-le-Bow, commonly called Bow Church, is one of the most
noteworthy. This church has various points of interest besides its
Norman crypt, from which it took the name of Bow, being the first
church in London built on arches. The ecclesiastical Court of Arches
sat here formerly. "Bow bells" are famous, and any person born within
hearing of them is said to be a "Cockney," a term now applied
particularly to the dialect of the lower classes in London. Wren
occasionally followed the Gothic model, as in St Antholin. The classic
style, however, was generally adopted in the period succeeding his
own. Some fine churches belong to this period, such as St
Martin's-in-the-Fields (1726), the Corinthian portico of which rises
on the upper part of Trafalgar Square; but other examples are
regrettable. While the architecture of the City churches, with the
exceptions mentioned, is not as a rule remarkable, many are notable
for the rich and beautiful wood-carving they contain. A Gothic style
has been most commonly adopted in building modern churches; but of
these the most notable, the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral (see
WESTMINSTER), is Byzantine, and built principally of brick, with a
lofty campanile. The only other ecclesiastical building to be
specially mentioned is Lambeth Palace, opposite to the Houses of
Parliament across the Thames. It has been a seat of the archbishops of
Canterbury since 1197, and though the present residential portion
dates only from the early 19th century, the chapel, hall and other
parts are of the 13th century and later (see LAMBETH).
Tower of London.
Among secular buildings, there is none more venerable than the Tower
of London (q.v.), the moated fortress which overlooks the Thames at
the eastern boundary of the City. It presents fine examples of Norman
architecture; its historical associations are of the highest interest,
and its armoury and the regalia of England, which are kept here,
attract great numbers of visitors.
Government buildings.
The Houses of Parliament, with Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's
Church, complete the finest group of buildings which London possesses;
a group essentially Gothic, for the Houses of Parliament, completed in
1867 from the designs of Barry, are in a late Perpendicular style.
They cover a great area, the east front giving immediately upon the
Thames. The principal external features are the huge Victoria Tower at
the south, and the clock tower, with its well-known chimes and the
hour-bell "Big Ben," on the north. Some of the apartments are
magnificently adorned within, and the building incorporates the
ancient Westminster Hall, belonging to the former royal palace on the
site (see WESTMINSTER). The government offices are principally in
Whitehall, the fine thoroughfare which connects Parliament Square, in
the angle between the Houses and the Abbey, with Trafalgar Square.
Somerset House (1776-1786), a massive range of buildings by Sir
William Chambers, surrounding a quadrangle, and having its front upon
the Strand and back upon the Victoria Embankment, occupies the site of
a palace founded by the protector Somerset, c. 1548. It contains the
Exchequer and Audit, Inland Revenue, Probate, Registrar-General's and
other offices, and one wing houses King's College. Other offices are
the New Record Office, the repository of State papers and other
records, and the Patent Office in Chancery Lane. The Heralds' College
or College of Arms, the official authority in matters of armorial
bearings and pedigrees, occupies a building in Queen Victoria Street,
City, erected subsequently to the great fire (1683). The Royal Courts
of Justice or Law Courts stand adjacent to the Inns of Court, facing
the Strand at the point where a memorial marks the site of Old Temple
Bar (1672), at the entrance to the City, removed in 1878 and later
re-erected at Theobald's Park, near Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. The Law
Courts (1882) were erected from the designs of G. E. Street, in a
Gothic style.
The buildings connected with local government in London are with one
exception modern, and handsome town-halls have been erected for some
of the boroughs. The exception is the Guildhall (q.v.) of the City
Corporation, with its splendid hall, the scene of meetings and
entertainments of the corporation, its council chamber, library and
crypt (partly opened to the public in 1910). In 1906 the London County
Council obtained parliamentary sanction for the erection of a county
hall on the south bank of the Thames, immediately east of Westminster
Bridge, and in 1908 a design submitted by Mr Ralph Knott was accepted
in competition. The style prescribed was English Renaissance. Several
of the great livery companies or gilds of the City possess fine halls,
containing portraits and other collections of high interest and value.
Among the more notable of these halls are those of the Mercers,
Drapers, Fishmongers, Clothworkers, Armourers and Stationers.
Royal palaces.
The former royal palaces of Westminster and of Whitehall, of which the
fine Jacobean banqueting hall remains, are described under
WESTMINSTER. The present London residence of the sovereign is
Buckingham Palace, on the west side of St James's Park, with beautiful
gardens behind it. Buckingham House was built in 1705 for the duke of
Buckinghamshire, and purchased by George III. in 1762. The existing
palace was finished by John Nash in 1835, but did not meet with
approval, and was considerably altered before Queen Victoria occupied
it in 1837. As regards its exterior appearance it is one of the least
satisfactory of London's great buildings, though the throne room and
other state apartments are magnificent within. The picture gallery
contains valuable works of Dutch masters and others. The front of the
palace forms the background to the public memorial to Queen Victoria,
at the head of the Mall. Provision was made in the design, by Sir
Aston Webb, for the extension of the Mall to open upon Trafalgar
Square, through gateways in a semicircular range of buildings to be
occupied by government offices, and for a wide circular space in front
of the Palace, with a statue of the Queen by Thomas Brock in its
centre. St James's Palace, at the north side of St James's Park, was
acquired and rebuilt by Henry VIII., having been formerly a hospital
founded in the 12th century for leprous maidens. It was the royal
residence after the destruction of Whitehall by fire in the time of
William III. until a fire in 1809 destroyed the greater part. Only the
gateway and certain apartments remain of the Tudor building.
Marlborough House, adjacent to the palace, was built by the first duke
of Marlborough in 1710 from the designs of Wren, came into possession
of the Crown in 1817, and has been occupied since 1863 by the prince
of Wales. In Kensington (q.v.), on the west side of Kensington
Gardens, is the palace acquired by William III. as a country seat, and
though no longer used by the sovereign, is in part occupied by members
of the royal family, and possesses a deeper historical interest than
the other royal palaces, as the birthplace of Queen Victoria and her
residence in youth.
There are few survivals of ancient domestic architecture in London,
but the gabled and timbered front of Staple Inn, Holborn (q.v.) is a
picturesque fragment. In Bishopsgate Street, City, stood Crosby Hall,
which belonged to Crosby Place, the mansion of Sir John Crosby (d.
1475). Richard III. occupied the mansion as duke of Gloucester and
Lord Protector (cf. Shakespeare's _Richard III._, Act i. Sc. 3, &c.)
The hall was removed in 1908, in spite of strong efforts to preserve
it, which resulted in its re-erection on a site in Chelsea. The hall
of the Middle Temple is an admirable example of a refectory of later
date (1572).
A fine though circumscribed group of buildings is that in the heart of
the City which includes the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange and
the Mansion House. The Bank is a characteristic building,
quadrilateral, massive and low, but covering a large area, without
external windows, and almost wholly unadorned; though the north-west
corner is copied from the Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli. The building
is mainly the work of Sir John Soane (c. 1788). The first building for
the Royal Exchange was erected and presented to the City by Sir Thomas
Gresham (1565-1570) whose crest, a grasshopper, appears in the
wind-vane above the present building. Gresham's Exchange was destroyed
in the great fire of 1666; and the subsequent building was similarly
destroyed in 1838. The present building has an imposing Corinthian
portico, and encloses a court surrounded by an ambulatory adorned with
historical paintings by Leighton, Seymour Lucas, Stanhope Forbes and
others. The Mansion House was erected c. 1740.
The only other public buildings, beyond those at Westminster, which
fall into a great group are the modern museums, the Imperial
Institute, London University and other institutions, and Albert Hall,
which lie between Kensington Gore and Brompton and Cromwell Roads, and
these, together with the National Gallery (in Trafalgar Square) and
other art galleries, and the principal scientific, educational and
recreative institutions, are considered in Section V.
_Monuments and Memorials._--The Monument (1677), Fish Street Hill,
City, erected from the designs of Wren in commemoration of the great
fire of 1666, is a Doric column surmounted by a gilt representation of
a flaming urn. The Nelson Column, the central feature of Trafalgar
Square, is from the designs of William Railton (1843), crowned with a
statue of Nelson by Baily, and has at its base four colossal lions in
bronze, modelled by Sir Edwin Landseer. A statue of the duke of
Cambridge, by Captain Adrian Jones, was unveiled in 1907 in front of
the War Office, Whitehall. The duke of York's Column, Carlton House
Terrace (1833), an Ionic pillar, is surmounted by a bronze statue by
Sir Richard Westmacott. The Westminster Column, outside the entrance
to Dean's Yard, was erected to the memory of the old pupils of
Westminster School who died in the Russian and Indian wars of
1854-1859. The Guards Memorial, Waterloo Place, commemorates the foot
guards who died in the Crimea. The Albert Memorial, Kensington
Gardens, was erected (1872) by "Queen Victoria and her People to the
memory of Albert, Prince Consort," from the designs of Sir Gilbert
Scott, with a statue of the Prince (1876) by John Henry Foley beneath
a huge ornate Gothic canopy. At the eastern end of the Strand a
memorial with statue by Hamo Thorneycroft of William Ewart Gladstone
was unveiled in 1905. In Parliament Square and elsewhere are numerous
statues, some of high merit, but it cannot be said that statuary
occupies an important place in the adornment of streets and open
places in London. Cleopatra's Needle, an ancient Egyptian monument,
was presented to the government by Mehemet Ali in 1819, brought from
Alexandria in 1878, and erected on the Victoria embankment on a
pedestal of grey granite.
_Nomenclature._--Having regard to the destruction of visible evidences
of antiquity in London, both through accidental agencies such as the
great fire, and through inevitable modernizing influences, it is well
that historical associations in nomenclature are preserved in a great
measure unimpaired. The City naturally offers the richest field for
study in this direction. The derivations of names may here be grouped
into two classes, those having a commercial connexion, and those
associated with ancient buildings, particularly the City wall and
ecclesiastical foundations. Among examples of the first group, Cheapside
is prominent. This modern thoroughfare of shops was in early times the
Chepe (O. Eng. _ceap_, bargain), an open place occupied by a market,
having, until the 14th century, a space set apart for popular
entertainments. There was a Queen Eleanor cross here, and conduits
supplied the city with water. Modern Cheapside merges eastward into the
street called the Poultry, from the poulterers' stalls "but lately
departed from thence," according to Stow, at the close of the 16th
century. Cornhill, again, recalls the cornmarket "time out of mind there
holden" (Stow), and Gracechurch Street was corrupted from the name of
the church of St Benet Grasschurch (destroyed by the great fire,
rebuilt, and removed in 1868), which was said to be derived from a
herb-market held under its walls. The Jews had their quarter near the
commercial centre, their presence being indicated by the street named
Old Jewry, though it is probable that they did not reoccupy this
locality after their expulsion in 1290. Lombard Street similarly points
to the residence of Lombard merchants, the name existing when Edward II.
confirmed a grant to Florentine merchants in 1318, while the Lombards
maintained their position until Tudor times. Paternoster Row, still
occupied by booksellers, takes name from the sellers of prayer-books and
writers of texts who collected under the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral.
As regards names derived from ancient buildings, instances are the
streets called London Wall and Barbican, and those named after the
numerous gates. Of those associated with ecclesiastical foundations
several occur in the course of this article (Section II.,
_Ecclesiastical Architecture_, &c.). Such are Austin Friars, Crutched
Friars, Blackfriars and Whitefriars. To this last district a curious
alternative name, Alsatia, was given, probably in the 17th century, with
reference to its notoriety as a hiding-place of debtors. A derivation is
suggested from the disputed territory of Alsace, pointing the contrast
between this lawless district and the adjacent Temple, the home of the
law itself. The name Bridewell came from a well near the Fleet (New
Bridge Street), dedicated to St Bride, and was attached to a house built
by Henry VIII. (1522), but is most familiar in its application to the
house of correction instituted by Edward VI., which remained a prison
till 1863. The Minories, a street leading south from Aldgate, takes name
from an abbey of nuns of St Clare (_Sorores Minores_) founded in 1293.
Apart from the City an interesting ecclesiastical survival is the name
Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, recalling the place of sanctuary which
long survived the monastery under the protection of which it originally
existed. Covent Garden, again, took its name from a convent garden
belonging to Westminster. Among the survivals of names of
non-ecclesiastical buildings Castle Baynard may be noted; it stood in
the City on the banks of the Thames, and was held by Ralph Baynard, a
Norman, in the time of william the Conqueror; a later building being
erected in 1428 by Humphrey duke of Gloucester. Here Richard III. was
acclaimed king, and the mansion was used by Henry VII. and Henry VIII.
Its name is kept in a wharf and a ward of the City.
The survival of names of obliterated physical features or
characteristics is illustrated in Section I.; but additional instances
are found in the Strand, which originally ran close to the sloping bank
of the Thames, and in Smithfield, now the central meat market, but for
long the "smooth field" where a cattle and hay market was held, and the
scene of tournaments and games, and also of executions. Here in 1381 Wat
Tyler the rebel was killed by Sir William Walworth during the parley
with Richard II. In the West End of London the majority of important
street-names are naturally of a later derivation than those in the
ancient City, though Charing Cross (q.v.) is an instance of an
exception. The derivation commonly accepted for Piccadilly is from
_pickadil_, a stiff collar or hem in fashion in the early part of the
17th century (Span. _picca_, a spear-head). In Pall Mall and the
neighbouring Mall in St James' Park is found the title of a game
resembling croquet (Fr. _paille maille_) in favour at or before the time
of Charles I., though the Mall was laid out for the game by Charles II.
Other names pointing to the existence of pastimes now extinct are found
elsewhere in London, as in Balls Pond Road, Islington, where in the 17th
century was a proprietary pond for the sport of duck-hunting. An
entertainment of another form is recalled in the name of Spring Gardens,
St James' Park, where at the time of James I. there was a fountain or
spring so arranged as to besprinkle those who trod unwarily on the valve
which opened it. Many of the names of the rich residential streets and
squares in the west have associations with the various owners of the
properties; but Mayfair is so called from a fair held on this ground in
May as early as the reign of Charles II. Finally there are several
survivals, in street-names, of former private mansions and other
buildings. Thus the district of the Adelphi, south of Charing Cross,
takes name from the block of dwellings and offices erected in 1768 by
the brothers (Gr. _adelphi_) Robert and William Adam, Scottish
architects. In Piccadilly Clarendon House, erected in 1664 by Edward
Hyde, earl of Clarendon, became Albemarle House when acquired by the
duke of Albemarle in 1675. Northumberland House, from which is named
Northumberland Avenue, opening upon Trafalgar Square, was built _c._
1605 by Henry Howard, earl of Northampton, and was acquired by marriage
by Algernon Percy, earl of Northumberland, in 1642. It took name from
this family, and stood until 1874. Arundel House, originally a seat of
the bishops of Bath, was the residence of Thomas Howard, earl of
Arundel, whose famous collection of sculpture, the Arundel Marbles, was
housed here until presented to Oxford University in 1667. The site of
the house is marked by Arundel Street, Strand.