Great Portland Street - Historic Influences

Historic Influences

Different owners and interests influenced the initial development of the local area and have had a lasting impact on the street layout and character. Edward Harley – Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and married to Lady Henrietta Cavendish – was responsible for the development of the Portland Estate, which commenced with Cavendish Square in 1717 and grew north and east. Great Portland Street's name is clearly derived from the estate and several other street names in the area are also related to the area's ownership, albeit less obviously.

Although all the land up to Great Titchfield Street was controlled by the Portland Estate, other estates were developing nearby land simultaneously. The Berners family owned the land just to the east of Great Portland Street, beginning to develop outwards from Wells Street and Rathbone Place in the mid-18th century. At the same time the Middlesex Hospital expanded on land they had obtained on a 99-year lease around Mortimer Street, encroaching on Riding House and Cleveland Streets. The proximity of unrelated developers with different agendas helps to explain the unusual collision of street grids centred around Great Portland Street, where several east-west streets terminate or originate.

Great Portland Street runs straight from north to south through this grid of streets. This layout, combined with its reasonable width and the concentration of shops along its length, means it has for a long time acted as a local centre and thoroughfare, connecting the residential areas around Regent's Park with the West End. However, this has also resulted in it become a sort of divider, emphasising the contrasting areas to either side of it. To the east, there are artistic areas such as Fitzrovia, which have historically been less well-to-do than the west, with its grand parade of Portland Place, residential areas for the gentry, and doctors and medical institutions on Harley Street.