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History:
The area of Fitzrovia was built in the late Georgian period to
attract wealthy residents and became a favourite for artists and
writers in Victorian London. In the early part of the 20th century,
Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw both lived in the square.
After World War 1, many of the buildings here were turned over
for commercial, office and institutional use but the number of
private houses in the square is now increasing. No. 6 is the home
of the Georgian Group, a charity formed to offer preservation
of Georgian architecture.
Fitzroy Square was developed ona piece of land called
Home Field owned by Charles Fitzroy who became the 1st baron of
Southampton in 1780. In the early 1790's he commissioned the distinguished
architect Robert Adam to provide designs for a handsome new square.
Adam died in 1794 and only the east and south sides were built
to his grand designs; the other two sides were not finished until
the 1830's.
Number 6 forms part of Adam's stone-fronted cast
side. It was described at the time as a "First Rate"
house, in other words a terraced house on a large scale, intended
for the top of the market. Over the last few years, No. 6 has
been restored to something like its original appearance. The outside
is marked by two handsome iron lanterns set into the original
front railings and a wide front door with an elegant fanlight.
The stone paved entrance hall and original stone staircase lead
up to the two principal rooms on the first floor. These rooms
have handsome plaster cornices and marble fireplaces.
The garden was laid out in the early19th century
and is still privately owned. The roadway round the garden was
pedestrianised in the 1980's and Fitzroy Square is now one of
the few London squares from which cars are mostly excluded.
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