Green Park

This is the 12th station I have visited on the Jubilee Line. Green Park is a very busy interchange station serving three different lines, the Piccadilly, Victoria and Jubilee. It first opened in 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton railway, the predecessor of the Piccadilly line. The Victorian line opened at the station in March 1969. Once that line had been completed then plans for a new line began. Initially known as the Fleet line as it was going to run in an east-west direction along Fleet Street. Tunnelling began in 1972 and was completed in 1974. It wasn't until 1977 during construction of the stations that the name was changed to the Jubilee line to mark the Queen's Silver Jubilee in that year. The ticket hall was enlarged to provide space for new escalators to connect the Jubilee line to the Victoria line. Another escalator is needed to descend to the Jubilee line platforms which are over 31 metres below street level. The  line finally opened to the public in 1979.

Unlike the Jubilee line extension which opened in 1999 these earlier stations do not have the much safer platform screen doors which prevent passengers accessing the tracks. 

In 2011 the station was updated with the construction of two new lifts and ramped access making the station step free. 

The station exits onto Piccadilly. Above the main entrance is an old roundel sign.

In 1908 the various different underground railway companies agreed to use the word underground for all their joint promotions. This sign with a large U at the beginning and D at the end began to appear outside stations and on promotional material.

During the 2011 refurbishment of the station a new entrance was built across the road with steps down from  Piccadilly and a ramped entranced from The Green Park. It also included another lift on the park side of the station.

From the station I walked a short way along Piccadilly to the Ritz Hotel. It first opened in 1906 and was considered one of the greatest hotels in the world. No expense was spared on its opulent interiors and lavish furnishings. It can name numerous famous names amongst its clientele. Although I have never stayed here, I have been fortunate to have 'Tea at the Ritz' on a few occasions. The last time being this year when one of my birthday treats included Afternoon Tea here.

The Queen held her 80th birthday celebrations here in 2006 which took place throughout the ground floor and the Ritz Club. In August 2015 scenes from the final episode of the TV drama Downton Abbey were filmed here. The filming took place in the Ritz restaurant with all the characters dressed in 1920s costumes and was filmed overnight. The episode was broadcast on Christmas Day 2015.

Here is the Palm Court  where afternoon tea is served.

 

Looking down Piccadilly towards Piccadilly Circus.

Just off Piccadilly on Albemarle Street is Brown's Hotel. The hotel opened in 1837 and can list royalty, writers, scientists and Oscar winners among its many clients. Alexander Bell made the very first telephone call in London from Brown's in 1876. Almost 200 years since it  opened, Brown's still remains one of London's most prestigious hotels. 

On the opposite side of Albemarle Street is the Royal Institution of Great Britain. The Royal Institution was founded in 1799 with the aim of educating the general public about new technologies and science discoveries. This has mainly been done through a programme of lectures which still continue today. The most famous being the Christmas Lecture which was founded by Michael faraday in 1825. In all a total of fifteen scientists attached to the Royal Institute have won Nobel Prizes.

I left Albemarle Street and walked round the corner onto Old Bond Street Street. On the corner with Burlington Gardens is 24 Old Bond Street, a building built for the premises of J & E Atkinson Ltd in 1926. Atkinsons was founded in 1799 and sold perfumes and beauty products on this site since 1832. At the top of the building you can see a spirelet which houses the only carillon in London. It consists of 23 bells and is played by hand on very special occasions.

This area of Mayfair is known as a more exclusive shopping district with a number of jewellery shops like these two - Tiffany's and Boodles.

This is the entrance to  the Royal Arcade. Constructed in 1879 it connects Old Bond Street to Albemarle Street. It is London's oldest purpose built shopping arcade and has changed little since it opened, retaining all its original features. Its Victorian design makes it the perfect setting for Christmas decorations.

I returned to Albemarle Street via the Royal Arcade and then walked round to Grafton Street.

Here were two 18th century Grade II listed townhouses. The one on the left has recently been converted into a Private Members' Club. The one on the right is an art gallery. In amongst the exclusive shops of Mayfair there are many small art galleries exhibiting work of some major artists. The public are welcome to have a look round.

There are more Georgian houses further along the road. This one was home to Henry Peter Brougham (1778-1868) a British statesman who became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.

Continue walking and you come out at Berkeley Square. I can never walk through the square without hearing the voice of Dame Vera Lynn in my head singing 'Nightingales sing in Berkeley Square'. However, these days it's not nightingales you hear singing but the screeching of parakeets which have become a common sight in London's parks

The Square was laid out in the mid eighteenth century. The garden's very large plane trees are some of the oldest in Central London, planted in 1789. The first houses to define the square were constructed around 1738 on the east side. Standing on their own they were first named Berkeley Row. The West side was finished by 1745. A few of the original houses still remain.

Gordon Selfridge, founder of the department store on Oxford Street lived in Lansdowne House on the Square for eight years until 1929 when the house was sold. It then became the Lansdowne Club. The dining room of the house is now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the drawing room is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

My walk took me round onto Curzon Street opposite this church which is now the 'Third Church of Christ, Scientist'. It is a branch of the Mother Church, First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. This is the third church in London to be founded by the Christian scientists hence its name. The building was built between 1908 and 1911 and was huge, seating over 1000 people. In 1917 the lower hall was used as an air raid shelter during WW1 and then again in 1940 when it was also made available as a temporary refuge for 200-300 people who had been made homeless by the air raids. The tower was added in 1931 making it more church like. In the 1980s part of the church was demolished creating a smaller church auditorium and the land at the back was redeveloped as commercial property for offices and flats.

Next door to the church is the  barber's shop of G F Trumper who opened his first shop here in 1875. This shop with its polished oak frontage and black and gilt lettering was opened in 1912. The interior and frontage has remained largely unchanged. Inside it has individual, private cubicles as well as mahogany cabinets filled with shaving accessories and his world famous fragrances.

Next door to G. F. Trumper's is Heywood Hill bookshop where Nancy Mitford once worked. This Mayfair bookshop became a meeting place for London's literary society and Nancy's friends. Nancy was born in London in 1904, the eldest of the six Mitford sisters. She published her first novel 'The Highland Fling' in 1931. Her fifth novel 'The Pursuit of Love' (1945) was probably her most famous book.

On the other side of the road is this archway which takes you through to Shepherd Market.

Here you will find a small square developed in 1735-46 by Edward Shepherd. From the square there are a number of small side streets with many boutique shops, restaurants and pubs all tucked into this small area in the middle of Mayfair between Piccadilly and Curzon Street.

 

Mayfair is named after a fifteen day fair that took place on the site of Shepherd Market. It was established by James II in the 1680s for the purpose of cattle trading. It grew in popularity and continued until the mid 18th century when the building of many large houses attracted the wealthy to the area and the need for a market diminished. Edward Shepherd, a local architect, was commissioned to develop the site and he created paved alleys and a two storey market with a theatre on top. In the 1920s the Shepherd  Market was considered one of the most fashionable and opulent areas of London. Now its quaint village-like appearance makes it a popular destination for many locals rather than tourists.

I left Shepherd Market via one of the side streets back onto Piccadilly and from there went into The Green Park.

 The Green Park is the smallest of the eight Royal Parks. The park is a mixture of mature trees and grassland and is right next to Buckingham Palace.

 

It is rumoured that in the 17th century Queen Catherine,the wife of King Charles II, had all the flowers removed from The Green Park after she saw the King picking flowers there for one of his many mistresses. Even today the park does not have any formal flower beds but does have a multitude of daffodils in flower during the spring.

There are a number of memorials in the park. This is the Bomber Command Memorial which commemorates the 55,573 airmen from the United Kingdom, British Commonwealth and Allied Nations who served in RAF Bomber Command and lost their lives over the course of the Second World war. It was built using Portland stone and within the memorial are the bronze sculptures of a Bomber Command aircrew.

Engraved into the walls of the memorial are the words:

'The Fighters are our salvation but the Bombers alone provide the means of victory'

Winston Churchill Sept 1940

In between the park and Buckingham Palace is Constitution Hill and here you will find the pillars of the Memorial Gates which were inaugurated by the Queen in 2002. They are dedicated to five million people from the Indian sub-continent, Africa and the Caribbean who served or lost their lives in the two World Wars. The pillars are made from Portland stone and are carved with the names: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Africa, Caribbean, Kingdom of Nepal.

The pillars are topped by a bronze urn and gas flames which are lit on special occasions such as Remembrance Sunday, Armistice Day and Commonwealth Day. 

I walked back through the park to look at the Canadian Memorial

Almost 1,000,000 Canadians, many of them volunteers, served in Britain during the two World Wars.  100.000 lost their lives. Designed by the Canadian sculptor  Pierre Granche, the monument is made from polished red granite from the Canadian Shield and is inset with bronze maple leaves. The monument is divided into two to represent the two World Wars.

The compass rose in the middle orients the sculpture towards Halifax, Nova Scotia, the port from which most Canadians left for active service.

Close to the memorial is Canada Gate which was installed in the early years of the 20th century as part of the memorial to Queen Victoria. The gate was a gift from Canada celebrating its contribution to the then British Empire. The metalwork includes the crests of Canadian provinces.

I left the park and walked down the Mall before turning off down Marlborough Road  and past St James's Palace.

The Palace contains the London homes of The Prince of Wales, The Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra.  It is a much older Palace than Buckingham Palace as it was built during the reign of Henry VIII. Much of the original red brick building erected in the mid 16th century survives today including the Chapel Royal, the gatehouse, some turrets and two surviving Tudor rooms in the State Apartments. It was used as the main Royal residence for the reigning monarch until Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace in 1837.

I walked round the corner to the front of the Palace on Pall Mall. The Palace is not open to the public and is very much a busy working palace. Amongst many other things the palace hosts receptions for charities with which members of the Royal family are involved, numbering about 100 per year. It is also used for State Visits as well as for other ceremonial and formal occasions.

I turned right off Pall Mall into St James's Street. The whole area of St James's is one of opulence and elegance. It is here that you find all the famous 'Gentlemen's clubs' like the Reform club or the Athenaeum and other institutions like the Royal Society and the Institute of Directors.

 

Most of these large buildings do not have a name outside so I'm not sure what they all are but I assume they are Private Members Clubs or Gentlemen's Clubs. I should have photographed the building to the right of this one but it had scaffolding around it. It was only when I got home and started to research the street that I realised that it was White's Gentlemen's Club which is the oldest and most exclusive club in London. It was founded in 1683 and along with Boodles and Brooks continues to maintain its exclusivity by not admitting women. An exception was made in 1991 when a visit was made by the Queen. Notable current members are Prince Charles and Prince William. 

This is Boodles Private members' Club. It moved onto St James's Street from Pall Mall in 1782.

Berry Brothers and Rudd was established in 1698 and is Britain's oldest wine merchant. I have not been inside the shop but it apparently has old wine cellars which used to be part of Henry VIII's residence. These are now converted meeting rooms. There is also supposed to be a tunnel (now blocked) leading from St James's Palace which was very handy for the royals to visit the ladies of the night during the 18th cent.

Beside the Berry Brothers shop is a narrow alleyway, Pickering Place. On the right of the alley was the Texas Legation. A legation is a bit like an embassy but not on the same level. It would not be headed by an ambassador but a lower level official. In the early19th century Texas was a part of Mexico but most of its residents were English speaking and in 1836 the Republic of Texas was formed. The aim of the republic was to be independent from both Mexico and the U.S. Mexico refused to recognise the republic. Although the U.S. did recognise it in 1837 they refused to annex it. When an attack from Mexico seemed imminent the republic set up legations in the UK, France and Washington to create closer international ties. Eventually, in 1845 Texas joined the United States and the legation was closed.

The alleyway takes you to one of the smallest squares in London, Pickering Place. It is said that this is where the last duel in London was fought. In the 18th and 19th century this was home to gambling dens and brothels. Now this tiny square is home to Georgian terraces and a restaurant.

Next to the wine merchants is Lock and Co.  Established as a hat makers in 1700 - it made Lord Nelson's famous cocked hats. It still makes hats today - if you can afford it.

With Covid restrictions in mind, a new notice for clients by the door.

John Lobb, the shoemakers, where they make wooden models of clients' feet so that the shoes are always a perfect fit.

This one is Truefit and Hill - a gentlemen's hairdressers. There were displays in the window of all manor of shaving accessories including a must for all gentlemen, moustache wax. 

St James's Street brought me back out onto Piccadilly, just a short walk from the tube station.