There is always a lot to see on any visit to London. Though it’s amazing how much time is spent sharing the same spaces as countless hordes of tourists all sharing the same major attractions. Saturday was going to be spent, as far as possible between those crowded spaces. Quite often not very far away from them, but just one street back and the crowds become but a trickle, and there are still so many amazing buildings to be seen.
We took a route that started at the hotel over near Mount Pleasant, that headed past Russell Square and into Bloomsbury, across Tottenham Court Road into Fitzrovia (where we’d been out eating and drinking the night before), along to the outskirts of Marylebone village, and then across Oxford Street and into Mayfair.
Along the way we encountered lovely Georgian terraces, an occasional Tudor beamed building, humongous Portland stone edifices, giant red brick Victorian masterpieces, huge pink sandstone blocks, glorious Art Deco constructions, and a fair share of sixties and seventies concrete. A wonderful mix of styles and sizes, and a wonderful testament to just what a great city London is, especially when such things can be viewed at leisure without being trampled by throngs of tourists.
We started our walk along Calthorpe Street, crossing over Grays Inn Road again, onto Guilford Street and past the Goodenough college and great hall, and then Coram Fields. A space where adults are only allowed when accompanied by children, appropriate seeing as it is only a few yards away from Great Ormond Street hospital. We turned to head up to Coram Street, passing the massive Brunswick Centre, a space that could be considered brutalist concrete, but the way the flats seem to cascade down, with the boulevard through the middle reduces the harshness it may have had.
It is here that you step into an area where Art Deco is around almost every corner. There are some simple buildings on Coram Street itself, but one of the finest Art Deco buildings in London is just around the corner in Herbrand Street.
Now the offices of McCann Erikson, an advertising agency, this superb building was originally the home to Daimler hire group. The windows give a great effect of there being a slope up through the circular part of the building as if it was an early multi story car park.
We carried on around the huge Royal International hotel, up Woburn Place, past Tavistock Square, and back down Bedford Way into Russell Square, passing blue plaques for JM Barrie, Virginia Woolf, and a brown plaque for TS Eliot on the side of the Faber building. A cluster of Art Deco buildings sit behind Russell Square and to the north side of the neo-classical stylings of the British Museum.
They form part of UCL, and at the centre is Senate House, a 1930’s Art Deco behemoth, that lays claim to be London’s first skyscraper. It isn’t tall by modern standards, but it looks as if it could have easily been transported from New York.
It inspired works by George Orwell, and it was here that the Ministry of Information was based during the second world war which became the Ministry of Truth in his book 1984.
We headed past Bedford Square and across Tottenham Court Road into the warren of streets in Fitzrovia, passing close to where we had eaten and drank the night before; passing through little alleyways and past the ends of mews until we got to Eastcastle Street and headed west. Progress was slow as we ambled back and forth across the road to get better views of all the interesting buildings on either side.
We turned and headed up Great Tichfield Street to Margaret Street with the intention of turning to carry on heading west. Only to catch a church spire out of the corner of our eyes in the other direction. So we wandered along to have a look at that. Hemmed in between other four and five story buildings was All Saints church.
I won’t go into detail here as it deserves it own piece. But suffice to say it is probably one of the most spectacular churches I have ever seen in this country. We were definitely happy we have corners in our eyes.
We came back out and made it to Regent Street. This upper part is so much quieter than the run down from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly. As you turn the corner from Margaret Street and look north you get the view of John Nash’s All Souls church and the wonderful Art Deco BBC building, and the Langham to the left.
We were drawn down Mortimer Street and Little Tichfield Street before we headed back along Riding House Street to come out at the church. It was in use for a day of lectures, and so had lots of people inside and no opportunity to have a look around.
The Langham loomed large as we headed along Portland Place and in to Chandos Street, passing the very shiny Georgian Medical Society of London building, before making our way around Cavendish Square and along Wigmore Street.
The impressive buildings were still coming thick and fast, but it was getting to be time for refreshments. We veered off up Duke Street, passing the former residence of Simon Bolivar into Manchester Square, the other side of which sits the Wallace Collection. Definitely a place for a future visit. We walked down Fitzhardinge Street into Portman Square and around the outside to Portman Street.
We were now looking for food and carrying on walking past as we saw the prices on display, including a ridiculous sixty two quid for a two course vegan meal. Moving swiftly on, we crossed over Oxford Street and saw Ask, a much more reasonably priced establishment for us.
Fed and watered we carried on into Mayfair. Along Green Street where we could see another church building at the end. This one has however been converted and is now open as the Mayfair Chippy. We turned to go down North Audley Street and into Grosvenor Square. One of the two former US Embassies is now a building site covering the west side of the square. The other is now a restaurant next to the Italian Embassy.
Once through the square we headed down Carlos Place to Mount Street Gardens. Down in this part of Mayfair, gone are the Art Deco and Portland Stone buildings, replaced with finely detailed sandstone and Victorian red brick as far as the eye can see. Stuck in the middle is a Victorian Gothic church – The Church of the Immaculate Conception, or as it is more commonly known the Farm Street Church.
The outside gives no clue as to just what a staggering church this is. Again, I’m not going to go into great detail as I’ll be doing a separate piece on this church as well. It is an early Catholic church after the lifting of the ban on building them in 1812, and it is a Jesuit church, and it is as grand inside as ones seen in Vienna.
After being gobsmacked by a second church on the day we came out of the west side of Mount Street gardens and were met with a large Victorian red brick library one side of the road (still in use as a library) and a more modest church on the other. One that wasn’t in as good repair as others we had seen that day, and it wasn’t open.
Carrying on we meandered through streets and alleyways and market places in Mayfair, seeing some very nice items on sale in the shops, only to be scared away by 1.) the prices, and 2.) the excessive number of bouncers on the door of every shop, cafe, pub and even church. Though the last one was offset by the number or Mormon’s who were trying to sell their literature outside their church. Another spectacular looking building, but not one I was willing to run the gauntlet to have a look around inside.
And then we squirted out of the bottom of Mayfair and found ourselves on Piccadilly, opposite Green Park and close to the Ritz. Ending up near there was no accident. There was a direct bus from there back to Mount Pleasant, and we sat at the front as it crawled through Piccadilly Circus, and up Shaftesbury Avenue before it managed to build up some speed as it left New Oxford Street.
i didn’t make the mistake of the night before and we got off a stop later and headed back to the hotel to pick up the bag. Another bus down to Farringdon, only to find a twenty five minute wait for the next Three Bridges service. It hadn’t rained on us at all whilst in London, and half heartedly tried once we got back to Crawley.
It had been a great day out, but it was sofa time to rest up before the actual birthday arrived.