Wigmore Street is wide and lined by good shops. It was called after
Wigmore Castle, the ancient seat of the Harleys, Earls of Oxford. This
was one of the first streets to be built after Cavendish Square; it was
burned in 1729, but rebuilt.
Wimpole and Harley Streets are long, dreary arteries which give the
impression of having been cut out of cardboard. At Nos. 43 to 45 is now
Queen's College, and next door is the Governesses' Home and Registration
Office. The College was first established in 1848. It owed its origin
partly to the Governesses' Benevolent Institution, and partly to the
exertions of the Rev. F. D. Maurice and the Rev. C. G. Nicolay. The
first object was to assist governesses to obtain certificates of
efficiency, but this is no longer the primary object. The College
occupies two fine old houses thrown into one; but though the picturesque
ceilings and staircases add to its interest, the narrow passages and
turnings are inconvenient. The names of Kingsley, Maurice, Trench, of
Sterndale Bennett and of Hullah, associated with its early development,
are sufficient to give the foundation exceptional interest.
South of Weymouth Street is a poor, squalid district. In this is
Westmorland Street, where stands St. James's Chapel. This was built in
1774, and was first called Titchfield Chapel, and subsequently Welbeck
Chapel, before it gained its present name. It was thoroughly restored in
1869-77. Externally, the chapel has no architectural beauty, but inside
a richly-coloured Burne-Jones window, placed so low as to give the
impression of an altar-piece, lights up the building.
Cavendish Square is the nucleus from which all the surrounding streets
have radiated. The ground was laid out in 1717, when the circular garden
in the centre was designed. For a time the name of the Square wavered
between Oxford and Cavendish, and it was referred to indiscriminately as
one or the other; but at length the present name gained favour. An
equestrian statue of the Duke of Cumberland, presented by General
Strode, formerly stood in the garden. At the southern end there is a
bronze statue of Lord George Bentinck by Campbell. James Brydges, Duke
of Chandos, formed a design for building in the Square a princely
residence, and he took the whole of the north side for a site. He had
amassed a large fortune as Paymaster in Queen Anne's reign, and he
intended to purchase all the property between this spot and Edgware, so
that he might ride from town to country over his own domain. But only a
part of his palace was ever completed. The two similar buildings still
standing on each side of Dean's Mews were designed for lodges. One of
the wings was occupied for a time by Princess Amelia, aunt to George
III., and subsequently by the Earl of Hopetown. This has since been
demolished. One of these is now a convent of the nuns of the Holy Child
Jesus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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