Garden Squares in Marylebone
Marylebone is home to four beautiful garden squares. Unfortunately they are closed to the general public for most of the year as each garden is privately owned by groups of residents who live in and around each of the squares. However, once a year in June the gardens are open to the public as part of the London Open Squares weekend. You can find details on the annual openings at www.opensquares.org
Manchester Square
A beautiful Georgian square with a fine collection of trees, shrubs and plants, first laid out from 1776 to 1788. A major replanting programme took place in 2006-8.
The square is named after the Duke of Manchester, who built a house (then called Manchester House) on the north side in 1777, attracted by the good duck shooting in the area. In 1797 the 2nd Marquess of Hertford acquired the lease and it became known as Hertford House.
In the 19th century it was home to Sir Richard Wallace (1818-90), illegitimate son of the 4th Marquess, who displayed much of the Hertford family's fabulous collection of fine and decorative arts here. In 1897 Lady Wallace left it to the nation as the Wallace Collection.
Hertford House today is a rare example of a London town house occupying the whole side of a garden square. A church originally planned for the centre of the square was never built.
Portman Square
The first square was developed in the 18th century by Henry William Portman on 200 acres of meadow passed down from a Tudor ancestor. It was immediately popular due to surrounding buildings by Robert Adam and James ‘Athenian' Stuart.
The gardens were laid out around 1780 as a wilderness and once contained a movable temple erected by the Turkish ambassador to enjoy the seasons.
Today a private garden of one hectare (2.5 acres) is enclosed by a clipped privet hedge, with notable London plane trees and other varied trees and shrubs. There is a children's play area. A major rejuvenation of the garden took place in 2005.
Montagu Square
In 1554 Sir William Portman, Lord Chief Justice to Henry VIII, bought the freehold to the manor of Lileston (Lisson). Most of the land was used for farming until the 1750s, when building on the estate expanded rapidly, centred on Portman Square.
About 1800, Montagu Square was laid out by the estate's architect, James Thompson Parkinson.
The square was named after Mrs Elizabeth Montagu of nearby Montagu House, now demolished. She is remembered for her literary Blue Stocking Society and the annual May Day party for chimney-climbing boys. Roast beef and plum pudding were served and a shilling given to every boy.
Bryanston Square
Bryanston Square was built between 1811 and 1821. The houses on the east and west sides were built to a grand design with stuccoed fronts and columns and pediments at each corner and in the centre (the latter now lost).
The square has magnificent old London plane trees set among other flowering trees. Planting includes rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, roses, weigelas, dogwood, viburnum, mahonias, hydrangeas and others.
There is a memorial drinking fountain, erected in 1863, at the south end and an early 19th-century cast-iron water pump, cast in the form of a Doric column, at the north end.
Among those who attended this festivity was a young David Porter, who started life as a chimney sweep but grew up to be the builder of Montagu Square. More recently, the residents restored the railings, which had been removed during WW2.
