Guilford Street

Guilford Street

Looking west along Guilford Street
Length 0.4 mi (0.6 km)
Postal code WC1W
Coordinates 51°31′22″N 0°07′21″W / 51.52278°N 0.12250°W / 51.52278; -0.12250Coordinates: 51°31′22″N 0°07′21″W / 51.52278°N 0.12250°W / 51.52278; -0.12250
west end A4200 A4200 road
Russell Square
east end Gray's Inn Road

Guilford Street is a road in Bloomsbury in central London, England, designated the B502. From Russell Square it extends east-northeast to Gray's Inn Road. Note that it is not spelt the same way as Guildford in Surrey. It is, in fact, named after Frederick North, Lord North, a former Prime Minister, who was also 2nd Earl of Guilford (sic).[1]

The nearest tube station is Russell Square.

Environment

The street contains the rear entrance to Goodenough College, an international residential centre for postgraduates studying or training in London.

It has the main entrance to Coram's Fields, a park containing extensive facilities for children and teenagers. Unusually access is reserved for those under 16; adults are only allowed entry if accompanying a child.[2]

On the south side is a major hospital complex including the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, the nationally famous Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, the Princess Royal Nurses' Home, the UCL Institute of Child Health and the UCL Institute of Neurology.

On the junction with Russell Square is the Hotel Russell.

Hotel Russell
General information
Location Russell Square, London, United Kingdom UK
Coordinates 51°31′22″N 0°07′30″W / 51.5227°N 0.1250°W / 51.5227; -0.1250
Opening 1898
Management Principal Hayley Group
Design and construction
Architect Charles Fitzroy Doll
Other information
Number of rooms 373
Website
http://www.hotelrusselllondon.co.uk

The Hotel Russell [3] is a four star hotel, located on Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London, owned and operated by the Principal Hayley Group. It was built in 1898 by the architect, Charles Fitzroy Doll. It is distinctively clad in decorative thé-au-lait ("tea with milk") terracotta, and was based on the Château de Madrid on the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. Its restaurant, which is named after the architect, is said to be almost identical to the RMS Titanic's dining room which he also designed.

A sister hotel by the same architect, the Imperial Hotel, was also built on Russell Square but was demolished in the late 1960s.[4]

The life-size statues of four British Queens above the main entrance were the work of sculptor Henry Charles Fehr.

The façade, by Doll, incorporates the coats of arms of the world's nations as they were in 1898 in the spandrels of the first floor.[5]

The hotel was one of the few that were not taken over by the War Office during the Second World War. It survived the war largely intact, but the magnificent dome that stood on the roof was badly damaged in an air raid of 1941 and not replaced.[5]

See also

Gallery

References

External links

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References


    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.