Four King Georges ruled from 1714 to 1830 and their reigns saw English architects embrace the ideals of the classical world, with imposing, clean lines, influenced by Palladio and epitomised by the elegant style of Robert Adam.
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Georgian
Estorick Collection
This Listed building houses the Italian art collection of the late Eric and Salome Estorick (whose clients included Burt Lancaster & Lauren Bacall,). Canonbury Square itself has many good Georgian houses, including one writer George Orwell once lived in.
39a Canonbury Square N1
Tel: +44 (0)20 7704 9522
Tube: Highbury and Islington
Goodwin's Court
The buildings in this lovely tiny alley hidden off St Martin's Lane date to 1690 - and a walk down it makes the centuries fade away. Still lit by gasllights, the Georgian bow-fronted former shops, brass door knobs and knockers and black doors evoke a lost age.
Goodwin's Court WC2
Tube: Leicester Square
Bedford Square
One of the best preserved Georgian squares in London, with many of its houses now Listed. Sadly, most are now offices and the central garden is private but look out for all the Blue Plaques denoting famous former residents. The square was built on top of the St Giles’s ‘rookery’ (slums) made famous by Dickens.
Bedford Square WC1
Tube: Tottenham Court Road
Henrietta Street
First laid out in 1631, and rebuilt through the centuries, moving more and more up-market in the process, this street now typifies late Georgian/early Victorian style. Jane Austen's brother Henry (a banker) lived at No.10 and she stayed here in 1813 and 1814 when visiting her London publishers.
Henrietta Street WC2
Tube: Covent Garden
Elder Street
The Spitalfields area has many interesting buildings, including these well preserved Georgian houses in two of London's earliest surviving terraces. Built in the 1720s, many have been carefully restored. The nearby Dennis Severs’ House shows off a Georgian interior.
Elder Street E1
Tube: Liverpool Street
Artillery Lane
Still in Spitalfields, you can find the two finest Georgian shopfronts in London at 56 and 58 Artillery Lane. Built in around 1715, for the weavers who were common in the area, the frontages were rebuilt in 1756-7. Note the Chinese-Rococo details on 58’s wrought iron fanlight.
Artillery Lane E1
Tube: Liverpool Street
