Covet Garden- London’s first “Suburb” developed outside of the Historic Roman Walls and one of the City’s Most Bustling Districts

By 1200 part of it had been walled off by the Abbot of Westminster Abbey for use as arable land and orchards, helping eventually give the neighborhood the name “the Convent Garden”. Covet Garden and parts of Holborn were the first London “suburbs” built outside of the original Roman Walls of what is mostly the City of London. The neighborhood was mostly built up by the mid 16th century but likely densified after the Great Fire of 1666, which did not touch the district. The Covent Garden Pizza was laid out in 1630, creating London’s first modern square surrounding by many private residents of note. But this honeymoon for the wealthy and powerful did not last long and by 1654, a small open-air fruit-and-vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square. Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee houses and brothels opened up. By the 18th century Covet Garden had become notorious slum with a concentration of brothels. But by the 1800s urban renewal efforts were afoot first with the creation the modern day neo-classical market building. The market grew and buildings were added: the Floral Hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market. The central neo-classical market building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980 and became a major tourist destination in Central London.

The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centered on Neal’s Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities. From an urban perspective, while Covet Garden is very touristy, it still has managed to retain a large residential base and is one of Central London’s most dense districts. This convergence helps create an incredibly mixed-use environment filled with wonderful narrow streets with lots of small business activity outside of the central Covet Garden Market. Covet Garden is also the site of many of London’s top historic sites, numerous theaters considered part of the Westend and great cultural scene. The major downsides of the district is a real lack of tree canopy limited park spaces, and fragmented bike infrastructure.

Click here to view my Covet Garden Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Gorgeous historic landmark properties (i.e. National Gallery, Caring Cross Station, St. Martin in the Fields, St Giles in the Fields, St Paul’s Church Covent Garden, Covet Garden, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the Royal Ballet & Opera ) and many historic theaters comprising many theaters considered part of the Westend. In additional to many museums, historic sites and theaters also a great array of live music venues, bars & restaurants.
* Also great retail amenities including Covent Garden Market, great array of clothing stores, plenty of supermarkets and grocerias, and plenty of neighborhood serving stores.
* The famous Leicester and Trafalgar Squares are here.
* Whitehall Gardens & Victoria Garden Embankments are very nice and run along the Thames
* Other famous sites like 17 Downing Street and Admiralty Gate are hear.
* Major biz districts include Charing Cross, New Oxford, and the Strand but are very busy and touristy.
* The entire neighborhood of Covet Garden is mixed use and there are some wonderful narrow streets with lots of biz activity (i.e. St. Martin’s Ln, New row, King St., Maiden Ln, Tavistock, Floral, Long Acre, Short’s Garden, Neal St & Neal’s Yard, Endel, James St and a couple really interesting historic nodes like the Seven Dials and where Martin’s Lane & Cranbourn St come together).
* Lots of very narrow pedestrian Lanes without any storefronts. This is a classic feature of old London where buildings where historically built right to the lot lines.
* Population density is one of the highest for London at around 40K residents per sq mile.
* Well served by public transit with 6 metros on 6 lines.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Very touristy district.
* Bike lane infrastructure is limited and what does exist is very fragmented.
* Other than the Victoria Garden Embankments, there are only a handful of parks in Covet Garden. A couple good ones however (i.e. Diamond Jubilee Garden, the Phoenix Garden, & Drury Lane Gardens). Tree canopy is very limited in Covent Garden.

Bloomsbury- Central London District known for its Terraced Housing, Gorgeous Urban Squares, and Wonderful Concentration of Museums, Universities, and Institutions.

The boundaries for Bloomsbury are a bit vague. For the purposes of my Bloomsbury neighborhood review I consider the district to be bounded by Bloomsbury/Great Ormond to the South, Grays Inn to the East, Tottenham Ct Rd to the west, and Euston Rd to the north.

Development really got started in the district with the construction of Bloomsbury square and surrounding terrace housing by the 4th Earl of Southampton right after the Great Fire in the 1660s. This was one of London’s first square developments. Development slowly continued in the 18th century but it wasn’t until the early 19th century that Bloomsbury filled in as the Duke of Bedford financed many affluent Georgian style terrace housing developed by the famous James Burton responsible for building around 3 thousand Georgian style terrace housing typically surrounding Parks and Square. Much of Bloomsbury is still owned by the Bedford Estate. Because of this concentration of elegant Georgian style terrace housing Bloomsbury has one of the highest proportions of historically listed buildings and monuments per square meter of any conservation district in London.

Modern Day Bloomsbury is an interesting mix of large institutional uses and museums (i.e. University of London & the British Museum), many historic Terrace housing developments with pockets of mid-century infill and more modern infill due to the district’s gentrification. There are also a number of the classic Mews lanes (compact rowhouses lined along dead-end narrow streets behind more prominent terrace housing). A good example of this is the Gower Mews. Overall Bloomsbury is a great urban district with solid density, wonderful cultural institutions & museums, vibrant streets, world class subway access providing convenient access to all of Central London, and a great array of urban parks and plazas, which are mostly open to the public. If I’m being nit-picky I’d like to see a bit more density in Bloomsbury, but this would need to be carefully done not to destroy some of the district’s monumental and gorgeous terrace housing. Bloomsbury could also use more extensive bike lane infrastructure and better tree canopy.

Click here to view my Bloomsbury Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Euston is a very busy and car heavy east-west street. Tottenham Cut and Bloomsbury Way are other very active streets with all modes of transportation and much more human scale than Euston.
* Nice narrow/quasi pedestrian streets at Museum St & Little Russel. Nice two block biz district along Southampton Row. Good amount of mixed-use blocks on mostly residential streets but less so than neighboring Holborn.
* Great Gardens and parks in Bloomsburg and most of the are open to the public. Bloomsburg Square Garden, Russel Square, Montague Street Gardens, Tavistock Square, Gordan Square, Woburn Square, Brunswick Square Gardens, Mecklenburgh Square, St. George’s Garden, Regent Square Garden, Bramber Green, Argyle Square, Cartwright Gardens. Many of these squares are lined with gorgeous 18th and 19th century flats.
* Several well known destinations and landmarks including St. Pancras Station, King’s Cross, Euston Station, the British Library, The British Museum, the University of London (which includes many great historic landmarks of its own), the Charles Dickens Museum, the Wellcome Collection, Grant Museum of Zoology, St. Pancreas Church, St. George’s Church. Many other smaller museums and cultural sites.
* Other than Museums great array of restaurants, bars, cafes, live music venues and theaters. Solid retail amenities as well including the Brunswick Centre is an interesting modern Brutalist development including a residential building with a shopping centre at ground floor and a major plaza space.
* Better density than most central city London Districts of nearly 30K residents per square mile. Given all the space dedicated to institutional uses this is likely due to the large University of London population.
* Very vibrant district thanks to all the college students and institutional uses.
* Great subway access and 8 metro stops and 8 lines.
* Better bike lane infrastructure than most Central London districts including two bike lanes that span the district.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Decent amount of biking occurs here, but any bike lanes are very short segments.
* A bit on the touristy side but not overwhelming.
* Other than the park space tree canopy is pretty limited.
* Decent density (25K per square mile) and bit better than Farrington to the east but pretty low compared to most European central cities.
* Better tree cover than most Central London district but still underwhelming compared to a City like Parks.

Holborn- Central London Neighborhood located on the Western Edge of the City of London

Holborn is a Central City neighborhood with sitting just west of the City of London. The neighborhood has roots in the ancient parish of Holborn, which lay on the west bank of the now buried River Fleet. The westward growth of London beyond the City Wall, and towards the seat of government in Westminster, took place along the banks of the River Thames and along the roads leading from Ludgate (Fleet Street and The Strand) and Newgate (Holborn/High Holborn). The westward growth towards Westminster accelerated in the 16th century(the Tudor Era) and the Fire of London in 1666 pushed growth in Holborn further northward away from the Thames River. The northern fringe of Holborn filled in during the 18th century.

Modern day Holborn is a highly walkable district with convenient access to the plethora of professional jobs in the City of London along with the West end, Covet Garden, and the major train stations of King Cross & St. Pancras. The built environment of Holborn is mostly 4-7 story mixed use buildings built between the 17th-20th centuries with more monumental buildings along its southern edge (i.e. Fleet St., and the Strand). Holborn really excels at creating the type of mixed-use environment that Jane Jacobs so desired as most streets have some level of non-residential uses. This givens Holborn much more of a medieval feel where use types were much more flexible than even a turn of the 20th century NYC Manhattan neighborhood which tended to concentrate commercial uses on busy linear streets. This lends helps create a district with a vibrant retail, office, and cultural scene having a level of street activity far exceeding its 25K residents (per square mile) would typically justify. There are still some areas for improvement as bike infrastructure is limited to short segments, the tree canopy is concentrated only in parks, and a density of 25K people per square mile feels pretty underwhelming for a Inner City European neighborhood.

Click here to view my Holborn neighborhood on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Holborn is the major west-east corridor and is very active with pedestrian and bike activity. Bloomsbury & Kingsway are similar streets but with less activity and commercial uses.
* Red Lion/Lamb’s Conduit is a nice quasi intimate pedestrian street.
* Other good urban biz streets include Grays Inn, the Strand, and lots of other mixed-use blocks especially along the western edge.
* Major landmarks here include Temple Church, Kings College, Somerset House, Waterhouse Square. Sir John Soane’s Museum,
* Several great parks as well including: Lincoln’s Inn Field North Lawn Garden, B, Red Square Gardens, & Grey’s Inn Square.
* Even outside of the major landmarks architecture is comprised of largely gorgeous styles from the late 17th century-early 20th century with some more modern infill sprinkled throughout the district.
* Well connected to the Tube with 4 stations and 6 lines serving the district.
* Excellent cultural amenities here including tons of restaurants, bars, cares, museums, theaters, & cinemas. Great retail amenities as well. Everything is very convenient here. Great mixed-use fabric that would make Jane Jacobs proud.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Decent amount of bike occurs here, but any bike lanes are very short segments.
* A bit on the touristy side but not overwhelming.
* Other than the park space tree canopy is pretty limited.
* Decent density (25K per square mile) and bit better than Farrington to the east but pretty low compared to most European central cities.