Soho Square

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Brass Square Dollond London Sundial Compass & BOX- NAUTICAL COLLECTION SUN CLOCK
29 Jan 2012 at 11:39am
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1956 New London Harbor - Thames River Connecticut, Large Nautical Chart
6 Jan 2012 at 11:14am
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Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of Soho with a look at Soho Square:

The very centre and nucleus of the parish has always been Soho Square, which was built in the reign of Charles II, and was at first called King Square - not in compliment to the monarch, but after a man named Gregory King, who was associated with the earliest buildings.

It is a place of singular attractiveness, an oasis in a desert; many of the houses are picturesque.

The square garden is not large, but it is planted with fine trees.

From the very beginning the square was an aristocratic locality, and the houses tenanted by the nobility; the most important of these, Monmouth House, occupied the whole of the southern side.

This was architecturally a very extraordinary building, and the interior was very magnificent.

"The principal room on the ground-floor was a dining-room, the carved and gilt panels of which contained whole-length pictures.

The principal room on the first-floor was lined with blue satin superbly decorated with pheasants and other birds in gold.

The chimneypiece was richly ornamented with fruit and foliage; in the centre, within a wreath of dark leaves, was a circular recess for a bust."

Next: Soho Square: Monmouth House