Mayfair in London

19 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  5 minutes

Burlington Arcade © Solipsist/cc-by-sa-2.5

Burlington Arcade © Solipsist/cc-by-sa-2.5

Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world.   read more…

Belgravia in London

3 December 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  15 minutes

Chesham Street © No Swan So Fine/cc-by-sa-4.0

Chesham Street © No Swan So Fine/cc-by-sa-4.0

Belgravia is an affluent district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the ‘Five Fields’ during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous place due to highwaymen and robberies. It was developed in the early 19th century by Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster under the direction of Thomas Cubitt, focusing on numerous grand terraces centred on Belgrave Square and Eaton Square. Much of Belgravia, known as the Grosvenor Estate, is still owned by a family property company, the Duke of Westminster’s Grosvenor Group, although owing to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, the estate has been forced to sell many freeholds to its former tenants.   read more…

Westminster Abbey in London

1 August 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  25 minutes

Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, seen from London Eye © Tebbetts

Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, seen from London Eye © Tebbetts

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom’s most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. The building itself was a Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of EnglandRoyal Peculiar“—a church responsible directly to the sovereign.   read more…

The BBC Broadcasting House in Westminster

6 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Zizzu02/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Zizzu02/cc-by-sa-3.0

Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main building is in Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland stone over a steel frame. It is a Grade II* listed building and includes the BBC Radio Theatre, where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience, and lobby that was used as a location for filming the 1998 BBC television series In the Red.   read more…

Theme Week London – City of Westminster

15 April 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Westminster Palace - Parliament at Sunset - UNESCO World Heritage Site © Mgimelfarb

Westminster Palace – Parliament at Sunset – UNESCO World Heritage Site © Mgimelfarb

The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary is the River Thames. It is an Inner London borough and was created in 1965 when Greater London was established. At its creation Westminster was awarded city status, which had been previously held by the smaller Metropolitan Borough of Westminster.   read more…

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