History
Albemarle Street was built by a syndicate of developers headed by Sir Thomas Bond. The syndicate purchased a Piccadilly mansion called Clarendon House from Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle in 1683 and proceeded to demolish the house and develop the area. At that time the house backed onto open fields and the development of the various estates in Mayfair was just getting underway. The syndicate also built Bond Street and Dover Street.
Albemarle Street was the first one way street created for the purpose of better traffic flow in London. The decision was taken after a series of lectures by Samuel Taylor Coleridge at the Royal Institution caused gridlock in the capital because of the horrendous queues formed by horsedrawn carriages bringing in the eager audience. Albermarle Street was made a one-way street to avoid further incidents of such congestion.
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—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)
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There are only two great currents in the history of mankind: the baseness which makes conservatives and the envy which makes revolutionaries.”
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—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)