Great Portland Street - Development and Redevelopment

Development and Redevelopment

Development of the whole estate was gradual but particularly so on Great Portland Street. This had a knock-on effect during its later redevelopment in the late 19th/early 20th centuries when rebuilding was dictated by the expiration of individual buildings' 99-year leases, and is subsequently evident in the buildings in existence today.

The most coherent element to the architecture is the predominance of Edwardian buildings to the north and Victorian buildings towards Oxford Street, particularly noticeable when there has been occasional consolidation of plots, leading to consistent façades above street level such as in the block between Clipstone and Carburton Streets. This trend of period groupings is another result of the slowness of the very first development. As buildings in the south would have been built much earlier than those in the north, their leases would have in turn expired earlier, thus setting off a wave of redevelopment which meant that rebuilding in the south would have taken place in the late Victorian era, whilst that in the north would have been delayed until the Edwardian.

The Blitz made it necessary for further re-building after the war, although the damage incurred along Great Portland Street alone was not particularly extensive. Hence, there is not a great number of modern buildings, and although the aesthetic today is a jumble of architectural styles and eras, the overall feel is that of an historic street.