How history finds a home on St James’s Place

Imagine stepping from Green Park station and walking east along Piccadilly, past the Ritz hotel and the Wolseley restaurant. Then turn south onto St James’s Street, with its collection of celebrated members’ clubs: Boodle’s, Brooks’s, and White’s. Finally, turn right onto St James’s Street, and you will find a unique pocket of local history.

St James’s Street is an L-shaped road next to Green Park. The first section (running east to west) was laid out between 1685-6, the second (running north to south) in the 1690s. By 1720 it was considered an attractive address, lined with simple Georgian terraces. According to the clergyman John Strype, who wrote a survey of London in the early eighteenth century, ‘the Houses are well built and inhabited by Gentry,’

Over time those facades became more ornate, while the interiors grew increasingly lavish. Then, in 1756, the Earls and Countesses Spencer chose the street as the setting for their magnificent London mansion. Spencer House was designed by the architects John Vardy and James Stuart, the latter famed for his study of Ancient Greek architecture, and this building became one of the first examples in London of the neoclassical style.

The family occupied the building until the twentieth century, and it remains owned by the Spencers to this day. Despite falling into disrepair during the war, it has since been restored in all its Georgian glory: one of the last aristocratic mansions to survive in London.

But St James’s Place was not simply a home for noble families. In fact, a remarkable number of politicians, writers and public figures were also drawn to this address over the years.

If you visited the street in the eighteenth century, you might meet Joseph Addison, the celebrated poet, essayist, MP for Lostwithiel in Cornwall and founder of The Spectator magazine. Or you might meet the journalist and politician John Wilkes, who was outlawed for his radical views, but later became Lord Mayor of London. Or even meet Mary Delany, who was celebrated for her paintings and decoupage, as well as corresponding with numerous celebrated scientists and authors.

In the nineteenth century, the residents were no less impressive. Industrialists and art collectors, bankers and scientists, bishops and poets – they all gathered in this quiet corner of St James’s. For instance, Oscar Wilde rented rooms at Nos.10-11 for five months, while Frédéric Chopin stayed at No.4 before his last ever piano recital.

Furthermore, the Scottish traveller Basil Hall, famed for his journeys to East Asia, Central and Southern America, as well as his shipwreck off the South African coast, was a resident of the street. So too was the aristocratic politician Lord Randolph Churchill, who became Chancellor of the Exchequer in his late thirties and died at the age of 45. His son Winston lived here as well, before he was sent off to boarding school at the age of 8.

What drew so many fascinating figures to this address? First, the street is fantastically well positioned, with the open spaces of Green Park on one side and the grand clubs of St James’s on the other. The park can even be directly accessed via Queen’s Passage, which runs beneath one of the buildings. From here, the offices of Westminster and Whitehall are a short walk away, while the restaurants and theatres of Mayfair and the West End are equally close.

At the same time, the street feels secluded. A narrow entrance opens onto a courtyard-like space outside Spencer House, leading to another narrow street that heads north towards the Stafford Hotel, which still features one of the first American-style cocktail bars in London. This gives the address a private atmosphere, allowing residents to live more discreetly.

The street also boasts an impressive mix of architectural styles, from the seventeenth-century courtyard of the Stafford Hotel to the classical splendour of Spencer House and the modern apartment buildings overlooking Green Park. Together, they offer a tribute to the rich history of this neighbourhood, as unique as any street in the city.