Street in London, England
Wardour Street
(
) is a street in
Soho
, City of Westminster, London. It is a
one-way street
that runs north from
Leicester Square
, through
Chinatown
, across
Shaftesbury Avenue
to
Oxford Street
. Throughout the 20th century the
West End
street became a centre for the British film industry and the
popular music
scene.
History
[
edit
]
There has been a thoroughfare on the site of Wardour Street on maps and plans since they were first printed, the earliest being
Elizabethan
. In 1585, to settle a legal dispute, a plan of what is now the West End was prepared. The dispute was about a field roughly where
Broadwick Street
is today. The plan was very accurate and clearly gives the name
Colmanhedge Lane
to this major route across the fields from what is described as "The Waye from
Vxbridge
to London" (
Oxford Street
) to what is now
Cockspur Street
. The old plan shows that this lane follows the modern road almost exactly, including bends at
Brewer Street
and
Old Compton Street
.
The road is also a major thoroughfare on
Faithorne
and
Newcourt
's map surveyed between 1643 and 1647. Although they do not give it a name, it is shown to have about 24 houses, and additionally a large "Gaming House" roughly on the present-day northwest corner of
Leicester Square
. The map also shows a large windmill, about 50 yards to the west of what is now
St Anne's Church
, roughly on the current alignment of
Great Windmill Street
.
The name
Colmanhedge Lane
did not last, and a 1682 map by
Ogilby
and
Morgan
shows the lane split into three parts. The northern part is shown as
SO HO
, the middle part
Whitcomb Street
and the remainder, from James Street south, is
Hedge Lane
. It is not clear from the map where the boundary between
SO HO
and
Whitcombe Street
is?probably somewhere between Compton Street and
Gerrard Street
. These three names are on the
Morden
and Lea map of 1682.
Wardour Street was renamed and building began in 1686, as shown by a plaque formerly on the house at the corner with Broadwick Street. Sir Edward Wardour owned land in the area, and
Edward Street
was what is now the stretch of Broadwick Street between Wardour Street and
Berwick Street
, as shown by Roque. Neither side of the street was fully built up by 1720.
[1]
John Rocque
shows both roads very clearly on his
large-scale map of 1746
. From Oxford Street south to
Meard Street
is now
Wardour Street
; then south to Compton Street is
Old Soho
; then down to
Coventry Street
is
Princes Street
. For the length of Leicester Square it is
Whicomb Street
and finally
Hedge Lane
, which now starts at Panton Street rather than James Street.
By the end of the 18th century,
Horwood
, on a large map of 1799, uses the same names but not
Old Soho
and
Hedge Lane
. This leaves just
Wardour
,
Princes
and
Whitcomb
streets. The houses have individual numbers by then, and are shown in detail on Horwood's map.
The names are much the same on
Greenwood
's map of 1827, although the area at the southern end had been redeveloped. The road now ends at
Pall Mall
East, and the boundary between
Wardour
and
Princes
streets may have moved north a little.
By 1846,
Cruchley
's new plan of London shows change at the southern end.
Wardour
,
Princes
and
Whitcomb
streets stay the same; however,
Whitcomb Street
loses a few hundred yards at the southern end, and from James Street to Pall Mall is now
Dorset Place
.
In Victorian times,
Princes Street
is still shown on the 1871
Ordnance Survey
map.
Stanford
's Map of Central London 1897, at 6 inches (150 mm) to a mile (1:10560), has just two names,
Wardour Street
from Oxford Street to Coventry Street, and
Whitcomb Street
south from there. It has remained like this since, though the numbering of premises was rationalised around 1896.
In the late 19th century, Wardour Street was known for (sometimes slightly shoddy) furniture stores, antique shops, and dealers in artists' supplies. A complicated succession of members of the Wright family were in business in a variety of art and furniture-related fields between 1827 and 1919 at numbers 22 (the first and last), and also 23, 26, 134 and 144, with at least two businesses run by cousins in the latter part of the century. Wright was used for picture frames by the new
National Gallery
from at least 1856, when they made the large new frame for
the
Adoration of the Magi
by
Paolo Veronese
that is still in place.
[2]
The phrase "
Wardour Street English
" denotes the use of near-obsolete words for effect, such as
anent
(a
preposition
, meaning 'concerning'); this derives from the once great number of
antique
shops in the area. The Paris-born
luthier
Georges Chanot III
had a shop and violin-making business at no. 157 for many years.
20th century
[
edit
]
During this period, it became a centre of the
British film industry
, with the big production and distribution companies having their headquarters in the street. By the end of the century most of the big film companies had moved elsewhere, leaving some smaller independent production houses and
post-production
companies still based in the area.
From 1935, the Shim Sham Club, an unlicensed jazz club popular with black and gay audiences run by
Ike Hatch
, and its successor the Rainbow Roof, were at 37 Wardour Street.
[3]
The Flamingo Club
was situated at numbers 33-37 from 1957 until 1967. The Vortex Club at 203 Wardour Street is mentioned in a song by
the Jam
, "A-Bomb in Wardour Street". Based in the discotheque Crackers, in 1977 the club hosted early concerts by punk bands such as
Siouxsie and the Banshees
,
The Slits
and
Adam and the Ants
. From 1964 to 1988, number 90 was the site of the
Marquee Club
, and since the late 1960s, number 159 has been the home of the St Moritz nightclub.
[4]
The
Eric Gilder School of Music
was at 195 Wardour Street (its original building is now demolished).
21st century
[
edit
]
The street is home to more than 30 restaurants and bars north of
Shaftesbury Avenue
. South of Shaftesbury Avenue there are many well-known Chinese restaurants including the large
Wong Kei
at 41?43. A
London County Council
blue plaque
on Wong Kei's commemorates costume designer and wigmaker
Willy Clarkson
whose business was based in the building.
[5]
The street crosses, or meets with,
Lisle Street
, Gerrard Street, Rupert Court, Dansey Place, Shaftesbury Avenue, Winette Street, Tisbury Court, Old Compton Street, Brewer Street, Bourchier Street, Peter Street, Tyler's Court, Flaxman Court, Broadwick Street,
St Anne's Court
, Sheraton Street,
D'Arblay Street
, Hollen Street, Noel Street and Oxford Street.
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]
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51°30′51″N
0°08′04″W
/
51.51419°N 0.13456°W
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51.51419; -0.13456