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Similar Berkeley Square Gardens, 50 Berkeley Square, Lansdowne House, Green Park tube station, Lansdowne Club |
Berkeley square 01 bbc 1998
Berkeley Square /ˈbɑːrkliː/ is a town square in Mayfair in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. It was originally laid out in the mid 18th century by architect William Kent.
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The gardens in the centre are open to the public, and their very large London Plane trees are among the oldest in central London, planted in 1789.

Description

Whilst Berkeley Square was originally a mostly residential area, there now remains only one residential block on the square – number 48. The square is mostly offices, including a number of hedge funds and wealth management businesses.
The square features a sculptural fountain by Alexander Munro, a Pre-Raphaelite sculptor, made in 1865.

The buildings around the square include several by other notable architects including Robert Adam, who designed Lansdowne House (since 1935 home of the Lansdowne Club) in the southwest corner of the square on Fitzmaurice Place. The daring staircase-hall of No. 44 is sometimes considered William Kent's masterpiece. Gunter's Tea Shop, founded under a different name in 1757, is also located here.
50 Berkeley Square is allegedly haunted; it used to be occupied by Maggs Brothers Antiquarian Booksellers.
There are several roads leading off the square including Curzon Street and Hill Street.
History

The square is something of an accident; in 1696, Berkeley House on Piccadilly became Devonshire House when John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton sold it to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire. As part of the agreement, Lord Berkeley undertook not to build on that part of the land he retained that lay directly behind the house, so keeping the Duke's view. This agreement was continued when the Berkeley land was developed after 1730, and the gardens of Berkeley Square are the termination of that undeveloped strip; to the south the gardens of Lansdowne House were originally also part of it; they were replaced by the current south side of the square.
Famous residents
Residents of Berkeley Square have included:

Famous former owners or residents of Lansdowne House include:

Fictional residents
Transport
Berkeley Square can be easily reached from Green Park tube station on the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria lines, and Bond Street tube station on the Central and Jubilee lines. London Buses route C2 also passes through the square.
Berkeley Square is also one of the most popular locations for the Elektrobay charging points supplied by Elektromotive, with requests for additional charging points to be installed.