Portland Place

For the historic district in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, seePortland and Westmoreland Places.

Portland Place is a street in theMarylebone district ofcentral London. Named after the3rd Duke of Portland, the unusually wide street is home to theBBC's headquartersBroadcasting House, theChinese andPolish embassies, theRoyal Institute of British Architects and numerous residential mansion blocks.

Portland Place
Other
Portland Place wide street
Namesake	William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
Maintained by	Transport for London
Location	London, United Kingdom
Postal code	W1
Nearest Tube station	Oxford Circus
Known for	BBC Broadcasting House

History and topography

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Portland Place c.1809

Portland Place is the wide street at the top of this 1790s map. At that time it terminated abruptly to the south at the gardens of Foley House.

The street was laid out by the brothersRobert andJames Adam for theDuke of Portland in the 1770s and originally ran north from the gardens of a detached mansion called Foley House. It was said that the exceptional width of the street was conditioned by the Duke's obligation to his tenant,Lord Foley, that his views to the north would not be obscured.^[1]

In the early 19th century, Portland Place was incorporated into the royal route fromCarlton House toRegent's Park viaLangham Place, developed forthe Prince Regent byJohn Nash. The street is unusually wide for central London (33 metres / 110 feet).^[2] The ambitious plans included a third circus to complementPiccadilly Circus andOxford Circus known as Regent's Circus; the remains of this plan survive today in the wide space surrounding the street's junction with Marylebone Road.^[3] The Spanish Embassy was located at Portland Place from 1819 to 1821.^[4]

Portland Place still contains many of the spaciousGeorgian terraced houses built by the Adams, as well as some early 20th century buildings and a few postWorld War II bombing

In administrative terms, Portland Place lies within theCity of Westminster'sMarylebone High Street Ward as well as theHarley Street Conservation Area.^[5]

Residents and buildings

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Langham Place inCharles Booth's 1889 map was a short road which connected Portland Place to UpperRegent Street.

Number 1, Portland Place, Westminster, London

TheRoyal Institute of British Architects headquarters, a 1930s Grade II* listed building designed by architectGeorge Grey Wornum, at 66 Portland Place in August 2012.

While most is high quality residential in a close local community, many of the houses are now occupied by company headquarters, professional bodies, embassies and charities (including Arthritis Research UK and the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund). The landmark headquarters of theRoyal Institute of British Architects sits at66 Portland Place directly opposite theChinese embassy; for years practitioners ofFalun Gong have mounted a silent protest in front of the former and facing the latter. Other foreign diplomatic institutions include thePolish Embassy, aPortuguese consulate, theHigh Commission of Kenya, the Swedish Ambassador's Residence and theColombian Consulate. In addition, Portland Place remains a fashionable address with some very exclusive blocks of mansion flats. Number 1 houses theInstitution of Chemical Engineers, number 41 theAcademy of Medical Sciences, number 23 houses theNursing and Midwifery Council, number 67 theRoyal Air Force Benevolent Fund and number 76 theInstitute of Physics. The Institute of Physics building replaced two earlier Georgian terrace houses, one of which – number 76 – was the home of John Buchan, the author and politician who lived there from 1912 until 1919, which resulted in Portland Place being the London home of Richard Hannay, the hero of Buchan's most famous novel "The Thirty-Nine Steps".^[6]

Its northern end opens into Nash's elegantstucco semicircularPark Crescent, which in turn leads on to Park Square andRegent's Park. There are two landmark buildings at the south end of the street, although both are technically inLangham Place: the grand lateVictorian Langham Hotel, andBroadcasting House. Langham Place is a short road which connects Portland Place to UpperRegent Street, although on the ground they all appear to be one street.

AGrade II listed memorial to Quintin and Alice Hogg erected in 1906 stands opposite Broadcasting House at the south end of Portland Place.^[7]

There are a number of international independent schools on Portland Place, includingAbercorn Upper School,Queens College and theSouthbank International School.

Literary references

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Portland Place was the home of Jane Gamble, the character on whomHenry James based his novelThe Portrait of a Lady.
Jane Gamble was also the real-life subject ofMy Courtship and its Consequences byHenry Wikoff.
Portland Place was the London address of, first, Adam Verver and his daughterMaggie Verver, and then (beginning with Volume One, Book Three, Chapter Four) of Prince Amerigo and his wife, the former Maggie Verver, in the last complete major novel by Henry James,The Golden Bowl.
Portland Place is the home ofRichard Hannay inJohn Buchan's novelThe Thirty-nine Steps.
Portland Place is the home of Stephen Jones inH. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Horror in the Museum".
Portland Place is featured inDaphne du Maurier's novelJulius.
Portland Place is the location of the private hotel where Valeria and Eustace stay after their truncated honeymoon inThe Law and the Lady byWilkie Collins.
Portland Place is the address of the wealthy brothers inMark Twain's short story "The Million Pound Note".
Portland Place is a metaphor forSeptimus Warren Smith's view of the world as a strange but wonderful place inVirginia Woolf's novelMrs Dalloway.^[8]
InTerry Pratchett andNeil Gaiman'sGood Omens, the angel Aziraphale learned to dance thegavotte in a "discreet gentleman's club" in Portland Place, becoming the first and only angel who dances (on the head of a pin or otherwise).