- Tavistock Square
Tavistock Square is a public square in
Bloomsbury , in theLondon Borough of Camden with a fine garden, named after Tavistock inDevon .Public art
The centre-piece of the gardens is a statue of
Mahatma Gandhi , which was installed in 1968.There is also a memorial to
conscientious objector s (unveiled in 1995), busts ofVirginia Woolf and DameLouisa Aldrich-Blake as well as a cherry tree planted in 1967 in memory of the victims of the nuclear bombing ofHiroshima .History
The square is part of an estate owned by the Dukes of Bedford, and takes its name from the
courtesy title given to the eldest sons of the Dukes of Bedford,Marquess of Tavistock . It was developed in the 1820s by the builderThomas Cubitt .Buildings
The following buildings are on Tavistock Square:
*BMA House, the headquarters of theBritish Medical Association (BMA), the professional association of doctors in theUnited Kingdom . BMA House was designed bySir Edwin Lutyens and is a grade IIlisted building . [http://www.bmahouse.org.uk]
*headquarters of theUnited World Colleges andUniversities UK , the conference ofuniversity rector s
*theTavistock Hotel .
*Connaught Hall, a University of London hall of residence, which houses 215 students, and a grade IIlisted building .
*Institute for the Study of the Americas , part of theUniversity of London 'sSchool of Advanced Study
* School ofPublic Policy ofUniversity College London .
* London office ofChurches Together in England
*Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan , United Kingdom officeOn the BMA building is a
blue plaque commemorating thatCharles Dickens once lived in a house on the site.London bombings
On
7 July 2005 as part of the 7/7 London Bombings, a bomb exploded on adouble-decker bus in the north-east corner of the square, outside the BMA building. This resulted in 13 fatalities.On the occasion of the first anniversary in 2006, the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced that the square would be the site of the permanent national memorial. A memorial garden is to be laid out in part of the existing garden and the BMA has commissioned a commemorative sundial.Gallery
ee also
Other squares on the Bedford Estate in Bloomsbury included:
*Bedford Square
*Russell Square
*Bloomsbury Square
*Gordon Square
*Torrington Square
*Woburn Square External links
*gbmaprim|TQ298823|Map sources and aerial photos.
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