Fitzroy Square

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Not far from the traffic and noise of Euston Road and Tottenham Court Road is the Georgian oasis of Fitzroy Square. The south and eastern sides of Fitzroy Square were completed in 1798 in Portland stone (a limestone quarried in Dorset), before the Napoleonic wars caused a slump in the property market and halted development. The remaining sides of the square were completed by 1835. The gardens in the centre of the pedestrianised square are owned and maintained by the local residents, but are open to the public during the warmer months.

Fitzrovia (the area between Euston Road and Gower Street) is well-known as a centre for the arts. Residents of Fitzroy Square itself have included the author Virginia Woolf (who lived in the house that had once belonged to playwright George Bernard Shaw), painters Ford Maddox-Brown, James Whistler, Sickert, Landseer and Rossetti. Yet more well-known figures frequented the local area, and especially The Fitzroy pub, including Dylan Thomas and Aleister Crowley. Author Ian McEwan is a more recent resident of the Square. The headquarters of The Georgian Group are in Fitzroy Square - and this organisation has been instrumental in the recent improvement of the square. The Georgian Group is a charity dedicated to the preservation of Georgian houses and gardens.

Somewhat incongruously, the BT Tower (previously known as the Post Office Tower and the Telecoms Tower) looms over the elegant Georgian architecture. We have provided more information about the BT tower in our blog - please click here to read the blog entry about the tower.

Please click the thumbnail panoramas below to view the fullscreen virtual tours.