Charlotte Street

Charlotte Street is a street in Fitzrovia, central London. The southern half of the street has many restaurants and cafes, and a lively nightlife; while the northern part of the street is more mixed in character, and includes the large office building of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and a University College London student hall of residence, Astor College. The street has a significant residential population living above the ground floor. Two conservation areas are contained within the street: Charlotte Street conservation area (Camden)[1] and Charlotte Street West conservation area (City of Westminster)[2]

This article is about the street in London. For the street in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, see Charlotte Street, Brisbane.

Corner of Charlotte Street and Goodge Street
The Fitzroy Tavern, at 16 Charlotte St.
Percy Chapel, Charlotte Street, 1857. (demolished 1867)

History

Charlotte Street, formed in 1763, was named in honour of Queen Charlotte who married King George III in 1761. It was one of three streets in and around Fitzrovia which took her name. The other two have since been renamed Hallam Street and Bloomsbury Street.[3] Fitzrovia itself was named after the Fitzroy Tavern, a public house on Charlotte Street. The boundary of Camden and Westminster runs along part of Charlotte Street.

Location

The nearest tube station is Goodge Street to the east. Goodge Street itself crosses Charlotte Street halfway up. To the east and parallel with Charlotte Street is Tottenham Court Road. To the south is Oxford Street.

Notable buildings

The street has a mix of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-century buildings and has reputation for its numerous restaurants serving a wide range of cuisine.

Sass's Academy, an important art school founded in the early 19th century by Henry Sass, was located in a house at 6 Charlotte street, on the corner with Streatham Street. Many notable British artists such as William Powell Frith, John Millais, Charles West Cope, William Edward Frost and Dante Gabriel Rossetti received their early training there. In 1842 its management passed to Francis Stephen Cary. (This refers to the Charlotte Street that has since been renamed Bloomsbury Street)

The Scala Theatre, opened 1905, was located on Charlotte Street. A theatre first stood on the site in 1772. From 1865 to 1882, the theatre was known as the Prince of Wales's Theatre. The theatre was demolished in 1969, after being destroyed by a fire.

The Fitzroy Tavern at 16 Charlotte Street was built as a coffeehouse in 1883. It became famous during the 1920s to the mid-1950s as a meeting place for artists, intellectuals and bohemians, including Dylan Thomas, Lawrence Durrell, Augustus John, and George Orwell.

The original Channel 4 television channel headquarters were at 60 Charlotte Street, before moving to 124 Horseferry Road in 1994. The commercial radio station Xfm London originally had its studios in Charlotte Street before moving to Leicester Square.

Gennaro Contaldo's restaurant Passione was at 10 Charlotte Street between 1999 and March 2009.

The Charlotte Street Hotel is a boutique hotel that opened in 2000, its interiors decorated modern British art, and located at 15 Charlotte Street.[4]

The Charlotte Street Gallery is at 28 Charlotte Street.[5]

Notable residents

The family home of Christina Rossetti and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, were at 38 Charlotte Street (now 105 Hallam Street) and later at 50 Charlotte Street.[7][8]

See also

References
  1. Charlotte Street Conservation Area accessed 8 September 2010
  2. Charlotte Street West Conservation Area Archived 11 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine accessed 8 September 2010
  3. E Beresford Chancellor, London's Old Latin Quarter, Jonathan Cape, 1930 p202
  4. http://www.designhotels.com/hotels/europe/unitedkingdom/london/charlotte_street_hotel_london
  5. http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Attraction/Charlotte_Street_Gallery/e1d0/
  6. Dickes, William Frederick (1905). The Norwich school of painting: being a full account of the Norwich exhibitions, the lives of the painters, the lists of their respecitve exhibits and descriptions of the pictures. Norwich: Jarrold & Sons Ltd. p. 543. OCLC 558218061.
  7. Packer, Lona Mosk (1963) Christina Rossetti University of California Press pp. 13–17
  8. Lindsay Duguid, "Rossetti, Christina Georgina" (1830–1894)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, Jan 2009

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