Abbey House, located at 219-229 Baker Street, London contains part of the central tower and a section of the façade of what was the headquarters for the Abbey Road Building Society (now Abbey National) from 1932 until 2002. The Art Deco styling of the building was designed by J. J. Joass and is original, the rest of the building was rebuilt as residential and commercial units as well as underground parking.
The area that is now Regent’s Park once belonged to the monks of Barking Abbey until Henry VIII dissolved the monastery and turned it into a hunting park. In 1835 it became a public park on the instructions of the future King George IV who at the time was the Prince Regent (ruling in place of his mentally ill father George III until his death in 1820 when he became George IV). That’s why the park is The Regent’s Park, but hardly anyone ever calls it that.
Daunt Books is a chain of independent bookshops founded by James Daunt with the Marylebone branch being the first acquisition. It was bought by Daunt in 1990 – before that it was an Edwardian bookshop built in 1910 which claims to be the world’s first custom-built bookshop. It’s one of those places that turns up all the time on best bookshops in London lists and as I happened to be walking past it on my most recent trip to London I decided to pop in and have a look for myself.
The Special Operations Executive, headquartered in London, was formed in the Second World War to secretly recruit men and women who would perform acts of sabotage in countries occupied by Germany. The lengths that these brave men and women went through is truly remarkable and I’ve read a fair few biographies of some of the women recruited – I’d recommend A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell.
St Mary’s Garden is a small public garden located next to the Garden Museum. It was created by Lambeth Borough Council in around 1932. It was originally part of the road which lead to the original Lambeth Bridge in 1862 which has since been replaced by a bridge further to the south.
This statue, known as both “My Children” and “Two Pupils”, represents children from the Royal Military Asylum that was based at the Duke Of York’s Square, London. It’s full title was the Royal Military Asylum for the Children of Soldiers of the Regular Army and mostly educated children who were orphans or who had fathers serving overseas.
I’ve walked by the Garden Museum a few times whilst in London and when I found myself with an afternoon free I decided it was the perfect time to visit. I was largely prompted by their temporary exhibit at the time – on until 19 June – called Wild & Cultivated: Fashioning the Rose.
A Grade II* listed building near Westminster Bridge, it used to be the headquarters of the London and Greater London Councils. Built of Portland stone in an Edwardian Baroque style its construction began in 1911 and it was opened by George V in 1922. After 1986 it ceased its council function and the building was sold – it now houses several businesses including the Sea Life London Aquarium and two hotels.
The Flying Horse is a Grade II* listed building that is the last remaining pub on Oxford Street. A red brick building with stone dressing in the Flemish Renaissance style it dates from around the end of the 19th century, redeveloped on the site of an earlier pub.
This very impressive Queen Anne building on Oxford Street is the former Waring and Gillow building. Waring and Gillow were furniture makers; founded in the 1730s in Lancaster by Robert Gillow his eponymous company merged with the Waring Company of Liverpool in 1897.
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