- Mecklenburgh Square
-
Coordinates: 51°31′28″N 0°7′7″W / 51.52444°N 0.11861°W
Mecklenburgh Square is a Grade II listed public square located in the King's Cross area of central London. It is notable for the number of historic terraced houses that face directly onto the square.
Facilities in the square include 2 acres (8,100 m2) of garden, a children's playground, and a tennis court. The garden includes formal lawns, gravel paths, mature plane trees and other ornamental trees. Two sides of the square have borders with plants from New Zealand.
To the west is Coram's Fields, a private park, and to the east is Gray's Inn Road, a major thoroughfare for the area. Goodenough College is a postgraduate residence and educational trust on the north and south sides of the square, and operates an academic-oriented hotel on the east side.
Russell Square tube station is located to the south-west of the square, and the major railway terminus of King's Cross-St Pancras is a short walk north.
Literary links
At number 21 there is a blue plaque for R. H. Tawney (1880 - 1962), historian.[1] In the same doorway is a blue plaque for Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898).[2]
No. 34 was shared by the Women's Trade Union League, the National Anti-Sweating League and the People's Suffrage Federation.[citation needed]
Virginia Woolf lived at number 37 from October 1939 to August 1940.[citation needed] Damaged by bombing, the original house was rebuilt as part of the Goodenough College building.
Dorothy Glover (1901 - 1971), a theatre designer, lived somewhere is Mecklenburgh Square.[citation needed] From 1938 to 1940 she had an affair with Graham Greene and together they produced four children's books. Dorothy Glover (using the name Dorothy Craigie) drew the pictures and Greene wrote the text.
At no. 44 there is a plaque (though not an English Heritage one) for H.D. (Hilda Doolittle 1886 - 1961), the American poet.[3] She was married to Richard Aldington, who in turn was a friend of D. H. Lawrence. Lawrence lived here also, from October to 30 November 1917.[citation needed]
The author Emanuel Litvinoff has lived in the Square for many decades[citation needed].
External links
- Mecklenburgh Square information
- LondonTown.com information
- walk around Mecklenburgh Square
- Greene and Craigie
- biog of Glover
- [1]
References
Bloomsbury Buildings Barbadian H.C. · Brunswick Centre · Church of Christ the King · Connaught Hall · Hotel Russell · The Lamb · Montagu House · Senate House · St. George's · St George the Martyr Holborn · St Pancras New Church · UCL Main BuildingSquares and parks Bedford Square · Bloomsbury Square · Brunswick Square · Coram's Fields · Gordon Square · Mecklenburgh Square · Queen Square · Russell Square · Tavistock Square · Torrington Square · Woburn SquareRoads Gower Street · Great Russell Street · Guilford Street · Gray's Inn Road · Lamb's Conduit Street · Malet Street · Museum Street · Southampton Row · Woburn PlaceHistory Commons
Categories:- Squares in Camden
- Grade II listed buildings in London
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.