St James's Street

St James's Street is the principal street in the district of St James's, central London. It runs from Piccadilly downhill to St James's Palace and Pall Mall. The main gatehouse of the Palace is at the southern end of the road; in the 17th century, Clarendon House faced down the street across Piccadilly from the site of what is now Albemarle Street.

History

St James's Street and St James's Palace, chromolithograph, about 1890

St James's Street was developed without an overall plan.[1] It received a boost with Lord St Albans' planned construction of harmonious grand town houses at St James's Square. Today St James's Street contains several of London's best-known gentlemen's clubs (such as Boodle's, Brooks's,[2] the Carlton Club and White's), some exclusive shops and various offices. A series of small side streets on its western side lead to some extremely expensive properties overlooking Green Park, including Spencer House and the Royal Over-Seas League at the end of Park Place.

View of Clarendon House, now demolished, which used to face south down St James's Street

Two 18th-century yards survive behind the noble frontages of the street. One is Blue Ball Yard, with stables built in 1742. The other is Pickering Place, with four informal Georgian brick houses of 1731.[3] Jermyn Street, noted for gentlemen's tailors and associated shops, leads off St James's Street to the east. The nearest tube station is Green Park which stands on Piccadilly, to the west.

Cultural references

St James's Street is referenced in T. S. Eliot's "Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town" from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, wherein Bustopher Jones, a parody of an Edwardian gentleman of leisure, is described as "the St. James's Street Cat". St James's Street was later featured as the new location for the fictional headquarters of the Kingsman Secret Service in the 2017 film Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "In scattered fashion", Nikolaus Pevsner remarked, London vol. I (Buildings of England), 2nd ed. 1962:590.
  2. ↑ In premises by Henry Holland, 1777–78 (Pevsner 1962).
  3. ↑ Pevsner 1962.
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