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Lord North Street: a stroll through history

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Lord North Street is a short street in Westminster, behind Westminster Abbey. It’s very pretty, and it’s packed with history. If you’d like to explore the less-visited Westminster, start here!

Pretty Georgian terraces

Westminster off the beaten track

When visiting Westminster and its many attractions, it’s well worth taking some time to wander through the streets behind Westminster Abbey. This is Westminster, off the beaten track. The streets are, by and large, peaceful and pretty.
And the prettiest of them all is Lord North Street, off Smith Square. In fact, it’s probably one of the prettiest streets in the whole of London! This is especially true as you look towards Smith Square and the graceful lines of the former church of St John’s. Indeed, the street was built in order to provide an approach to the church.

The view towards Smith Square

Lord North Street, a time capsule

Lord North Street is lined with elegant Georgian terraced houses of brown bricks and fine wrought iron railings. It appears unchanged since it was built in the 1720s. Well, except for the cars.

The cars… and the ghost signs pointing to basement shelters, a poignant reminder of the Blitz of 1940/1. Lord North Street is one of the few places where such signs can still be seen. This seems fitting, since Sir John Anderson, who the man who commissioned the shelters that bear his name, lived at number 4.

Lord North Street ghost sign to shelter

More than 40,000 civilians were killed during the Blitz, and large parts of London were reduced to rubble. It’s surely some sort of miracle that Lord North Street was spared, especially considering that, mere steps away, the church was devastated by an incendiary bomb.

So many illustrious residents!

The house at the corner of Lord North Street and Smith Square bears a plaque to honour W.T.Stead. W.T.Stead was the father of popular journalism, for better or for worse. He lived in Lord North Street until his death in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Other notable previous residents include two former prime ministers (and several lesser politicians). Anthony Eden lived at number 2 in the 1920s, and Harold Wilson at number 5 in the 1970s.

A change of name

Lord North Street was originally called plain North Street (as in: north of Smith Square). It was renamed Lord North Street between the wars, thanks to another resident: Brendan Bracken, right-hand man to Winston Churchill, father of the Financial Times, and founder of History Today.

He believed the new name would sound more impressive. And there was just the politician for it: Frederick North, Lord North, the Prime Minister in office when the United States of America declared their independence.

Pretty doorways in Westminster

Beyond Lord North Street

If you start at Smith Square and walk up, cross the road as you get to Great Peter Street. You’ll then find yourself in Cowley Street and then Barton Street, two more tranquil streets of pretty Georgian terraces, with two blue plaques.

In Cowley Street, number 16 was the home of Sir John Gielgud, theatre legend, for over 30 years. In Barton Street, number 14 is famous for having been home to T.E.Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”).

I hope you enjoyed this small tour of a Westminster less travelled! Now, how about lunch somewhere?



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How do you get to Lord North Street?

The nearest tube stations are either Westminster (Circle Line, District Line, Jubilee Line) or St James Park (Circle Line, District Line), both about a 10 minutes walk away.

Lord North Street on Google Maps

And if you prefer reels…

Lord North Street typical georgian facades

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If you enjoyed this, please like or share. Thank you!