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Authors: Editors of David & Charles
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near St Paul’s Cathedral, they practised in the Court of Arches which sat originally in the church of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside and dealt with matrimonial matters. Doctors’ Commons advocates also dealt with matters of maritime law and international trade, the most eminent being (later Sir and Saint) Thomas More who was admitted to Doctors’ Commons in 1514. By the 19th century Doctors’ Commons was regarded as outdated and slightly absurd, and was lampooned by Dickens in
David Copperfield
where he described it as a ‘cosey, dosey, old-fashioned, time-forgotten, sleepy-headed little family-party’. Changes in the legal system led to the dissolution of Doctors’ Commons in 1865 and the sale of its buildings, which had by then been relocated to Knightrider Street. The buildings and the street were demolished in 1867. The former site of Doctors’ Commons is now marked by a plaque on the Faraday Building on the north side of Queen Victoria Street which became the General Post Office’s first telephone exchange in 1902.
An extravagant prince and an ambitious architect
The measure of the Royal Mile
I n 1811 the lease expired on a dairy farm in Marylebone Park and the land reverted to the Crown. The task of redeveloping it was given to John Nash (1752-1835), the favourite architect of the Prince Regent (later George IV) who at that time was reigning in place of his father George III who was stricken by the blood disorder porphyria. Nash, whose plans were as extravagant as those of the Prince himself, proposed to construct a Royal Mile, beginning in the dairy farm which was to be renamed Regent’s Park. It would then run south along Portland Place which took its name from the previous owner of the land, the Duke of Portland. Portland Place owes its generous width to the fact that Lord Foley, the owner of Foley House at its south end (the present site of the Langham Hotel), had a guarantee that no building would ever obscure his view of Hampstead Heath to the north. Portland Place linked with Regent Street and passed to St James’s Park via the new Piccadilly Circus and Carlton House Terrace, the home of the Prince. Regent Street itself divides Mayfair, with its aristocratic residences on its west side from Soho, with its immigrant communities, to the east. Needless to say, when buildings had to be demolished to make way for the new road, it was the immigrants who lost out! The lower part of Regent Street where it curves towards Piccadilly Circus, known as the Quadrant, was arcaded, with one of London’s first parades of shops at street level and flats above. It was designed in this way so that, in Nash’s words, ‘Those who have nothing to do all day but walk about and amuse themselves may do so every day in the week instead of being frequently confined to their houses by rain.’ Were these the very first ‘ladies who lunched’? The shopkeepers complained that the arcade kept out the light and in 1848 they were demolished.
The Royal Mile at Regents Street
SOHO’S IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
In the 1670s Soho, which was being turned from a royal hunting park to a cheap residential area, became the home of Greek Christians seeking refuge from Turkish rule. Shortly afterwards French Huguenots settled there, having fled from the persecutions of Louis XIV, and Soho Square still has its Huguenot church. Later residents included Italians and a large Jewish community from Germany and Eastern Europe, one of the most notable being Karl Marx who lived in Dean Street while writing Das Kapital. Soho remains one of London’s most lively, tolerant and cosmopolitan communities with a wide range of creative industries.
Trafalgar Square was created as part of Nash’s design, the area having previously been occupied by the Royal Mews. Nash intended that the space be occupied by learned societies like the Royal Society and the Royal Academy but his design was abandoned in favour of one by Charles Barry, architect of the new Palace
David Copperfield
where he described it as a ‘cosey, dosey, old-fashioned, time-forgotten, sleepy-headed little family-party’. Changes in the legal system led to the dissolution of Doctors’ Commons in 1865 and the sale of its buildings, which had by then been relocated to Knightrider Street. The buildings and the street were demolished in 1867. The former site of Doctors’ Commons is now marked by a plaque on the Faraday Building on the north side of Queen Victoria Street which became the General Post Office’s first telephone exchange in 1902.
An extravagant prince and an ambitious architect
The measure of the Royal Mile
I n 1811 the lease expired on a dairy farm in Marylebone Park and the land reverted to the Crown. The task of redeveloping it was given to John Nash (1752-1835), the favourite architect of the Prince Regent (later George IV) who at that time was reigning in place of his father George III who was stricken by the blood disorder porphyria. Nash, whose plans were as extravagant as those of the Prince himself, proposed to construct a Royal Mile, beginning in the dairy farm which was to be renamed Regent’s Park. It would then run south along Portland Place which took its name from the previous owner of the land, the Duke of Portland. Portland Place owes its generous width to the fact that Lord Foley, the owner of Foley House at its south end (the present site of the Langham Hotel), had a guarantee that no building would ever obscure his view of Hampstead Heath to the north. Portland Place linked with Regent Street and passed to St James’s Park via the new Piccadilly Circus and Carlton House Terrace, the home of the Prince. Regent Street itself divides Mayfair, with its aristocratic residences on its west side from Soho, with its immigrant communities, to the east. Needless to say, when buildings had to be demolished to make way for the new road, it was the immigrants who lost out! The lower part of Regent Street where it curves towards Piccadilly Circus, known as the Quadrant, was arcaded, with one of London’s first parades of shops at street level and flats above. It was designed in this way so that, in Nash’s words, ‘Those who have nothing to do all day but walk about and amuse themselves may do so every day in the week instead of being frequently confined to their houses by rain.’ Were these the very first ‘ladies who lunched’? The shopkeepers complained that the arcade kept out the light and in 1848 they were demolished.
The Royal Mile at Regents Street
SOHO’S IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
In the 1670s Soho, which was being turned from a royal hunting park to a cheap residential area, became the home of Greek Christians seeking refuge from Turkish rule. Shortly afterwards French Huguenots settled there, having fled from the persecutions of Louis XIV, and Soho Square still has its Huguenot church. Later residents included Italians and a large Jewish community from Germany and Eastern Europe, one of the most notable being Karl Marx who lived in Dean Street while writing Das Kapital. Soho remains one of London’s most lively, tolerant and cosmopolitan communities with a wide range of creative industries.
Trafalgar Square was created as part of Nash’s design, the area having previously been occupied by the Royal Mews. Nash intended that the space be occupied by learned societies like the Royal Society and the Royal Academy but his design was abandoned in favour of one by Charles Barry, architect of the new Palace
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