Page 134 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

132  L ONDON AREA B Y AREA

2 Bloomsbury
Square
WC1. Map 5 C5. 1 Holborn.
This is the oldest of the
Bloomsbury squares. It was
laid out in 1661 by the 4th Earl
of Southampton, who owned
the land. None of the original
build ings survive and the
square’s shaded garden is
encircled by a busy one-way
traffic system. (There is a car park
below the square that, unusually
for central London, nearly
always has a free space or two.)
The literary and artistic avant-
garde Bloomsbury Group lived
in the area during the early years
of the last century. They
included prominent figures The flamboyant Russell Hotel on Russell Square
such as novelists Virginia Woolf
and E M Forster, biographer Bloomsbury. The layered tower, 5 Charles Dickens
Lytton Strachey and artists modelled on the tomb of Museum
Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant King Mausolus (the original
and Dora Carrington. Look mausoleum in Turkey) and 48 Doughty St WC1. Map 6 D4.
out for their individual plaques topped by a statue of George I, Tel 020 7405 2127. 1 Chancery
throughout the area (see p43). was for a long time an object of Lane, Russell Sq. Open 10am–
derision – the king was thought 5pm daily (last adm 4pm).
Closed 1 Jan, 25 & 26 Dec, and
to be presented too heroically. occasionally Sat for events (phone to
In 1913, the funeral of Emily check). & 8 7 ground floor only.
Davison, the suffragette who ^ - =
threw herself under King ∑ dickensmuseum.com
George V’s horse, was held here.
In the crypt is the Museum of The novelist Charles Dickens
Comedy, which doubles up as a lived in this early 19th-century
stand-up comedy venue. terraced house for three of
his most productive years (from
1837 to 1839). Oliver Twist and
4 Russell Square Nicholas Nickleby were entirely
written here, and Pickwick
WC1. Map 5 B5. 1 Russell Sq. - Papers was finished. Although
Open 7:30am–10pm daily.
The simple, tranquil interior of St George’s Dickens had a number of
church in Bloomsbury One of London’s largest squares, London homes throughout his
Russell Square is a lively place, lifetime, this is the only one to
3 St George’s, with a fountain, café and traffic have survived.
Bloomsbury roaring around its perimeter. The In 1923, it was acquired by
east side boasts perhaps the best the Dickens Fellow ship and
Bloomsbury Way WC1. Map 13 B1. of the Victorian grand hotels to it is now a well-conceived
Tel 020 7242 1979. 1 Holborn, survive in the capital. Charles museum with some of the
Tottenham Court Rd, Russell Sq. Open Doll’s Russell Hotel, which was principal rooms laid out exactly
1–3pm Mon–Thu, 1–3:30pm Fri, opened in 1900, is a wondrous as they were in Dickens’ time.
noon–1pm Sun. 5 9am Tue–Fri, confection of red terracotta, Others have been adapted to
1:10pm Wed & Fri, 10:30am Sun. with colonnaded balconies and display a varied collection of
Recitals. 7 8 by appointment.
∑ stgeorgesbloomsbury.org.uk prancing cherubs beneath the articles associated with him.
main columns. The exuberance The museum houses over
A slightly eccentric church, is continued in the lobby, faced 100,000 exhibits, including
St George’s was designed by with marble of many colours. manuscripts, paintings and
Nicholas Hawksmoor, Wren’s The poet T S Eliot worked at personal items; papers
pupil, and completed in 1730. the west corner of the square, and pieces of furniture from
It was built as a place of worship from 1925 until 1965, in what his other homes; and first
for the prosperous residents of were the offices of publishers editions of many of his best-
newly developed, fashionable Faber and Faber. known works.

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