The Georgian period, running from approximately 1714-1837, was a time of stability. This stability was not only shown in the monarchy, economy and politics, but in art and architecture as well.
We started off by going to Queen Anne's Gate.
This is a street named after Queen Anne who was the reigning monarch at the time. From top to bottom, these three pictures show the three different style in housing from early to late. As you can see, they are brick built, classical and common style houses.
As the years go on, the style gets more simple and the use of multiple colors is lost. Also, the color of the brick changes to a lighter tone.
After a brief walk through St. James's Park (pictured below), with its picturesque planning, we came to St. James's Palace.
St. James's Palace is the last remaining Tudor palace left. It still has some gothic features with spires and battlements. This is a perfect example of classical late medieval, early Tudor entrance. Also, it has late gothic windows. While the palace was built in the 15th century, there are some 18th century additions (last picture).
Our next stop took us to the home of the Spencer's. The most famous of them all is probably Princess Diana Spencer. The Spencer House, built in 1752 by John Vardi is constructed of portland stone and has tiers of levels and rustication.
The basement level has the stones look like they are old bricks to show it is the lowest level. The portland stone on the next level has clean cuts. Finally, the top level is smooth portland stone with pilasters and a classical style portico. The reason it is like this is because the first floor is the most important floor in the house and where most of the business took place.
Another very important facet of Georgian period life were gentlemen's clubs. These were a place where aristocratic young and old men could go drink, play cards and talk politics in a scholarly and dignified way. They were invite only and very hard to get into.
The first gentlemen's club we saw was Boodles. Built in 1765, this gentlemen's club has a big venetian arch window and very delicate details.
The next gentlemen's club, which is across the street, is Brooks. Built in 1778, it is younger than Boodles and has a slightly different style. It is a more neo-classical building with columns and pillasters. As well as being neo-classical, it is more greco-roman than its opposing club Boodles.
Next we headed over to St. James's Square.
We started off by going to Queen Anne's Gate.
This is a street named after Queen Anne who was the reigning monarch at the time. From top to bottom, these three pictures show the three different style in housing from early to late. As you can see, they are brick built, classical and common style houses.
As the years go on, the style gets more simple and the use of multiple colors is lost. Also, the color of the brick changes to a lighter tone.
After a brief walk through St. James's Park (pictured below), with its picturesque planning, we came to St. James's Palace.
St. James's Palace is the last remaining Tudor palace left. It still has some gothic features with spires and battlements. This is a perfect example of classical late medieval, early Tudor entrance. Also, it has late gothic windows. While the palace was built in the 15th century, there are some 18th century additions (last picture).
Our next stop took us to the home of the Spencer's. The most famous of them all is probably Princess Diana Spencer. The Spencer House, built in 1752 by John Vardi is constructed of portland stone and has tiers of levels and rustication.
The basement level has the stones look like they are old bricks to show it is the lowest level. The portland stone on the next level has clean cuts. Finally, the top level is smooth portland stone with pilasters and a classical style portico. The reason it is like this is because the first floor is the most important floor in the house and where most of the business took place.
Another very important facet of Georgian period life were gentlemen's clubs. These were a place where aristocratic young and old men could go drink, play cards and talk politics in a scholarly and dignified way. They were invite only and very hard to get into.
The first gentlemen's club we saw was Boodles. Built in 1765, this gentlemen's club has a big venetian arch window and very delicate details.
The next gentlemen's club, which is across the street, is Brooks. Built in 1778, it is younger than Boodles and has a slightly different style. It is a more neo-classical building with columns and pillasters. As well as being neo-classical, it is more greco-roman than its opposing club Boodles.
Next we headed over to St. James's Square.
This land was originally owned by Lord St. Auldbin and the layout for this square was done in 1665. However, it wasn't until the 17th and 18th centuries that it was actually completed. One of the most famous homes in St. James's Square is the Lichfield House. Build by James Stuart, this classical townhouse has many Greek details. This is because Stuart travelled to Athens before building it and was influenced heavily by the Greeks. It is a neo-classical building.
When John Nash was planning the city, he made a direct route from North to South. Palace to our next stop, Waterloo Place. It was named to commemorate the English victory of Napoleon at Waterloo.
After we saw this, we headed out of the St. James area and into Soho. Back during the Georgian period Soho was considered the slums and full of prostitution, poverty, immigrants and drugs.
Our first stop in Soho ironically was Our Lady Church.
This was one of the first Roman Catholic church's following the liberation from strict anti-catholic laws in London. Although it was destroyed in 1780 by a Protestant mob, it stands again today. On the outside it is very simple as to not draw attention to itself. However, once you walk inside it is greatly adorned just as you would expect a Catholic church to be.
Next we stopped off at Dufour's Place.
Originally, there were Georgian houses sitting where this monster of flats is. However, after they were destroyed during WWII London government decided to replace them with this 15 story flat. Its modern style and crazy scale are out of place and did not look very good in this setting. However, it stands there today as a reminder of the changes that London underwent post-WWII.
On the way to our next destination, we made a quick stop at Meard St. This street was constructed in the 1720's and it was named after the carpenter who made the houses - John Meard. This was the end of the rococo style of door and had multi-colored brick with flush windows.
After making our way through Meard St. we arrived at St. Anne's Workhouse.
This is from the late 18th century and was a welfare state creation. Here the poor could get clothing and food and each parish had about one workhouse. This was the bare minimum poor relief but a starting point none the less in an effort to clean up the streets and give the poor a better way of life instead of letting them die in the streets of starvation, cold and disease.
The final destination on this trip was Soho Square. It was laid out in 1677 and all around it there are Georgian houses, 20th century office buildings and two churches (one Irish, one French). This really displayed the mixture of people and cultures that came to London and lived in Soho during this time.
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