Tag: England

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.

Farringdon- Central London District located north of Smithfield Market & Scene of several of Charles Dicken’s Novels

Farringdon is located in the London Borough of Islington located just north of the City of London with Smithfield Market being its southern border. The Smithfield Market dates back to 1133 and has been continually operating ever since, even escaping destruction from the London Fire of 1666. However, the City of London has sealed the fate of this storied market with plans to close it in 2028. The Farrington neighborhood grew up north from the Smithfield Market after the Great Fire along the Great North Road, which traces the modern day streets of St John & Islington High Streets. The Great Fire of London prompted the expansion of London beyond the traditional City of London boundaries north of the Roman Walls. By the early 1810s Farringdon was fully developed. However much of the northern half of Farrington was considered a slum in the first half of the 19th century and featured frequently in Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist and David Copperfield novels.

The Smithfield market was reconstructed in the 1860s in a stunning new Victorian era building. This era also included  the construction of a road over the River Fleet which served as the northeastern terminus of the world’s first underground subway, the Metropolitan Railway, Several urban renewal projects in this time period also helped lift Farrington out of poverty and into a more “respectable” working class neighborhood specializing in  printing, brewing, and watchmaking. However after WWII Farrington experienced another period of decline. The neighborhood slowly emerged out of several decades of decline by the 1980s as Farringdon became a desirable place for artists desiring cheap loft space. By the late 1990s, gentrification was in full swing and Farrington became a desirable area for white collar works. In the early 2020s transit improvements to Farringdon station and the creation of the Elizabeth line have further spurred development  and increased real estate values.

From an urban perspective Farrington is an attractive highly walkable mixed-use district with excellent public transit and access to central London with decent bike infrastructure and comfortable human scale design. Major amenities include Smithfield Market, Exmouth Market, the St. John’s Biz District, and several attractive urban parks. Given its medium density of around 15K residents per square mile (very low for a Central European City) I’d like to see more intensive development especially around Farringdon Metro Station. There is new construction here but its mostly 4-5 stories and I believe this area should have more residential high-rises to take advantage of its TOD access and Farringdon’s Central London location.

Click here to view my Farringdon Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent pedestrian scaled biz district on Exmouth Market. Also nice biz district on St. John’s St.
* Leather Lane is a very interesting compact biz district. More on the gritty side but has markets sometimes. Parts of it have been pedestrianized.  Hatton garden is only a block over from Leather lane and is a historic jewelry district.
* Good biz district along Clerkenwell Rd and Farringdon but wider streets than St. John’s St so not as intimate.
*  Nice mix of more historic Eastend Central London 18th & 19th century architecture on narrow medieval streets mixed with more spacious modern styles. 
* St. Peter’s Italian Catholic Church is a very interesting 19th century church tucked into the urban fabric. S]
* Three subway stations (i.e. Chancery Lane Station, Farringdon & Barbican) serve the neighborhood which includes 4 different subway lines.
* Not a terribly touristy area. Seems very livable.
* Very mixed use and amenity rich district.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

  • Better park spaces than most Central London neighborhoods (i.e. St. James’ Garden, Spa Fields & Chaterhouse Square, St. John’s Garden) but still kinda limited. Tree canopy is so so.
  • Decent bike lane infrastructure but still some gaps in the two main lanes along Clerkenwell & Farringdon.
  • So so density for a central European neighborhood at around 15K-20K people per square mile.