Russell Square

:This article is about the garden square. For the London Underground station see Russell Square tube station.

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Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, London. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. Russell Square tube station is nearby. In 2002 the square was re-landscaped in a style based on the original early 19th century layout by Humphry Repton (1752-1818), and the café in the square was redeveloped. The centrepiece of the new design is a fountain with jets playing directly from the pavement. Managed by London Borough of Camden the freehold of the square remains with the Bedford Estate. The square is now locked at night to prevent what London Borough of Camden described as "other undesirables", better known as gay men, from meeting for sex.

Related Topics:
Bloomsbury - London - University of London - British Museum - Russell Square tube station - Humphry Repton - Fountain - London Borough of Camden - Gay men

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The square is named for the surname of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford, who developed the family's London landholdings in the 17th and 18th centuries, beginning with Covent Garden (Bedford Street). Russell Square was formed when new streets were laid out by the Duke on the site of the gardens of his former home Bedford House, their London seat. Other local street names relating to the Duke of Bedford include Bedford Square, Bedford Place, Bedford Avenue, Bedford Row and Bedford Way; Woburn Square and Woburn Place (from Woburn Abbey); Tavistock Square, Tavistock Place and Tavistock Street (Marquess of Tavistock), and Thornhaugh Street (after a subsidiary title Baron of Thornhaugh). The street lamps around this area carry the Bedford Arms.

Related Topics:
Dukes of Bedford - Covent Garden - Bedford Square - Woburn Square - Woburn Abbey - Tavistock Square - Marquess of Tavistock

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The square contained large terraced houses aimed mainly at upper middle class families. A number of the original houses survive, especially on the southern and western sides: those to the west are occupied by the University of London, and there is a blue plaque on one at the north west corner commemorating that T. S. Eliot worked there for many years when he was poetry editor of Faber & Faber. Thomas Lawrence had a studio at number 67 (1805-1830). On the eastern side the imposing Hotel Russell, built in 1898, dominates; sadly the sixties President Hotel is completely out of keeping.

Related Topics:
University of London - Blue plaque - T. S. Eliot - Faber & Faber - Thomas Lawrence

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