9 Harley Street
Before his marriage Sir Walter had had only one servant, Stephen Black, and Sir Walter’s confidence in this person knew scarcely any bounds. At no. 9 Harley-street he was called “butler”, but his duties and responsibilities extended far beyond the range of any ordinary butler: he dealt with bankers and lawyers on Sir Walter’s behalf; he studied the accounts of Lady Pole’s estates and reported to Sir Walter upon what he found there; he hired servants and workmen without reference to any one else; he directed their work and paid bills and wages. Of course in many households there is a servant who by virtue of his exceptional intelligence and abilities is given authority beyond what is customary. But in Stephen’s case it was all the more extraordinary since Stephen was a negro. I say “extraordinary”, for is it not generally the case that a negro servant is the least-regarded person in a household? No matter how hardworking he or she may be? No matter how clever? Yet somehow Stephen Black had found a way to thwart this universal principle."from "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susanna ClarkeHarley Street was first developed in the latter half of the 18th century. The area until then had been pastoral, with few inhabitants, at the heart of which was the original Marylebone village, St Mary-le-Bourne, named after the location of its church beside the Tyburn brook.9 Harley Street is the home of Sir Walter Pole, his manservant Stephen Black and later on his wife Emma Wintertowne.Their neighbours would have included Turner and Arthur Wellesley (later Lord Wellington).
Cavendish Square Gardens
Cavendish Square was built in 1717 and named after the Duke of Portland's great grandmother.The Duke of Portland was Prime Minister when Norrell arrived in London, though he retired in 1809 and died shortly after. He was succeeded by Spencer Percival, who was assassinated in 1812; after that Lord Liverpool became the PM until 1827.The Duke of Portland's full name is William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, which is nicely mental. Many of the street names in the area around the Portland Estate come from this family, including Harley Street and Oxford Street.
Hanover Square
"Now I do not know what may be your opinion yet to say the truth I do not much care for the south side of Hanover-square; the houses are so tall and thin –four storeys at least –and all the tall, gloomy windows are so regular, and every house so exactly resembles its neighbours that they have something of the appearance of a high wall blocking out the light. Be that as it may, Mr Norrell (a less fanciful person than I) was satisfied with his new house"Mr Norrell's London residence is based in Hanover Square - it was here that Strange and Norrell first met and where Norrell taught Strange magic (Strange never visited Hurtfew Abbey until 1817).Hanove square was built from 1713, intended for fashionable and wealthy Londoners. The buildings are mostly offices now, including Vogue UK at 1 Hanover Square.The church. St George's is where some claimed to have heard the magicians fighting after their falling out in 1814. They didn't. This is the church from 'Get Me to the Church on Time' from My Fair Lady, and was featured in The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor.
Shapero Rare Books
One of London's leading antiquarian bookshops. This shop specialises in travel, natural history, English literature and continental books.
Bruton Street
In the last seven years however the perfection of Mr Lascelles’s house had become somewhat diminished. The colours were as exquisite as ever, but they had not been changed for seven years. The furnishings were expensive, but they represented what had been most fashionable seven years ago. In the last seven years no new paintings had been added to Lascelles’s collection. In the last seven years remarkable antique sculptures had arrived in London from Italy, Egypt and Greece but other gentlemen had bought them. What is more, there were signs that the owner of the house had been engaged in useful occupation, that he had, in short, been working. Reports, manuscripts, letters and Government papers lay upon every table and chair, and copies of The Friends of English Magic and books on magic were to be found in every room."- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeThe historical basis of the character Lascelles is likely to have been a combination of the characters of Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood who lived in Harewood House in Hanover Square and died in 1820, and his older brother Beau Lascelles, who died in 1814.Beau Lascelles was the essence of fashion of that day. He was a handsome man, rather inclined to be fat, which gave him a considerable resemblance to George Prince of Wales, whom he evidently imitated in his dress and manner. He was very high bred and amicable in society, and his taste in all that surrounded him was undeniable; his house, his carriages, horses, and servants, without any attempt at gaudy trappings, were the admiration of all the town, from the uniform neatness and beauty of their tenue. The ensemble of his equipage when he went to Court on a birthday might really be compared to a highly-finished toy. His house, though not large, was a museum of curiosities, selected with great taste and judgment, at a time when he had few competitors; and, had they all been preserved, they would now be of incalculable value. His life was luxurious but short, as he died at the age of fifty."
John Murray Publishers
In London Mr John Murray, the publisher, sat in his house in Albermarle-street. At other times Mr Murray’s rooms were the liveliest in London –full of poets, essayists, reviewers and all the great literary men of the kingdom. But the great literary men of the kingdom had gone to the country. The rain pattered upon the window and the wind moaned in the chimney. Mr Murray heaped more coals upon the fire and then sat down at his desk to begin reading that day’s letters. He picked each letter up and held it close to his left eye (the right being quite blind and useless)." - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeThe John Muray in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the second John Murray to run the publishing house, which was founded by his father in 1768.He published Byron's work, and was willing to take risks with who and what he published. His salons became the epicentre of literary London. When Byron died, Murray burned the only copy of Byron's memoirs in his office's fireplace.
St James' Street
"As Stephen walked up St James’s-street, he saw a strange sight –a black ship sailing towards him through the grey rainy air above the heads of the crowd. It was a frigate, some two feet high, with dirty, ragged sails and peeling paint. It rose and fell, mimicking the motion of ships at sea. Stephen shivered a little to see it. A beggar emerged from the crowd, a negro with skin as dark and shining as Stephen’s own. Fastened to his hat was this ship. As he walked he ducked and raised his head so that his ship could sail. As he went he performed his curious bobbing and swaying movements very slowly and carefully for fear of upsetting his enormous hat. The effect was of a man dancing amazingly slowly. The beggar’s name was Johnson. He was a poor, crippled sailor who had been denied a pension. Having no other means of relief, he had taken to singing and begging to make a livelihood, in which he had been most successful and he was known throughout the Town for the curious hat he wore."
Boodle's
"I next took pains to get acquainted with Captain Hurst and persuaded him to accompany me to Boodle’s where –well I will not deceive you, madam –where there is gambling!” The small man giggled. “I lent him a little money to try his luck –it was not my own money you understand. Lady Duncombe had given it to me for the purpose. We went three or four times and in a remarkably short space of time the Captain’s debts were –well, madam, I cannot see how he will ever get clear of them!"- Christopher Drawlight in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeBoodle's is the second oldest club in the world, with only White's being older. During the Regency era, Boodle's became known as the club of the English gentry, while White's became the club of the more senior members of the nobility. This was the Duke of Wellington's club (before he graduated up the social ladder to White's).In the year 2017 the club will still not admit women members, astoundingly.
Berry Bros. & Rudd
Berry Bros.& Rudd is very probably the basis for Mrs Brandy's grocers, which was based on St James' street. The shop has been around since 1696, founded by the Widow Bourne. the company has supplied the Royal Family since the reign of King George III. Berry Bros. & Rudd was his wine supplier then. First they sold coffee, and then cocoa, tea, snuff, spices, anything that was considered exotic and new, and became one of London's premier grocers.
Little Ryder Street
"Childermass said that Drawlight lived upon his wits and his debts; none of his great friends had ever been invited to visit him at home, because home was a lodging above a shoemaker’s in Little Ryder-street."Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeUntil 1863 the west arm of Ryder Street was Little Ryder Street and the east arm Great Ryder Street.
Burlington House
"Burlington House in Piccadilly was the London residence of the Duke of Portland, the First Minister of the Treasury (whom many people nowadays like to call the Prime Minister in the French style). It had been erected in an Age when English noblemen were not afraid to rival their Monarch in displays of power and wealth and it had no equal for beauty anywhere in the capital. As for the Duke himself, he was a most respectable old person, but, poor man, he did not accord with any body’s idea of what a Prime Minister ought to be. He was very old and sick. Just at present he lay in a curtained room somewhere in a remote part of the house, stupefied by laudanum and dying by degrees. He was of no utility whatsoever to his country and not much to his fellow Ministers. The only advantage of his leadership as far as they could see was that it allowed them to use his magnificent house as their meeting-place and to employ his magnificent servants to fetch them any little thing they might fancy out of his cellar. (They generally found that governing Great Britain was a thirsty business.)"Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Piccadilly
"The stout gentleman opened his eyes wide in fright, anger and indignation. He opened his mouth wide to begin accusing Stephen but in that moment he began to change. His body became the trunk of a tree; he suddenly sprouted arms in all directions and all the arms became branches; his face became a bole and he shot up twenty feet; where his hat and umbrella had been there was a thick crown of ivy. “An oak tree in Piccadilly,” thought Stephen, not much interested. “That is unusual.”Piccadilly was changing too. A carriage happened to be passing. It clearly belonged to someone of importance for as well as the coachman upon his box, two footmen rode behind; there was a coat of arms upon the door and it was drawn by four matched greys. As Stephen watched the horses grew taller and thinner until they seemed about to disappear entirely and at that point they were suddenly transformed into a grove of delicate silver birches. The carriage became a holly bush and the coachman and the footmen became an owl and two nightingales which promptly flew away. A lady and gentleman walking along together suddenly sprouted twigs in every direction and became an elder-bush, a dog became a shaggy clump of dry bracken. The gas lamps that hung above the street were sucked up into the sky and became stars in a fretwork of winter trees and Piccadilly itself dwindled to a barely discernible path through a dark winter wood."
Hatchards
Hatchards was founded in 1797, but moved to its current address in 1810 so that the Egyptian Hall could be built. It has been at the same site since 1810 - you can see John Hatchard's portrait on the staircase.It has three royal warrants, meaning it supplies books to Her Majesty, and it has counted Disraeli, Wilde and Byron among its regulars.
Meard Street
Meard Street is one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in Soho.
Dean Street Townhouse
An original Soho Georgian townhouse, now a hotel, restaurant and bar (cocktails are £11 each)
Rippons
Rippons' owner Romil Patel restored the front of the shop in 2011, back to how it would have looked when it was built in 1791. All the architectural detais are original, but were buried under centuries of paint.
Soho Square
Seven Dials London
By the 19th century, Seven Dials was among the most notorious slums in London, as part of the rookery of St Giles. The area was described by Charles Dickens in his collection Sketches by Boz, which remarks,The stranger who finds himself in the Dials for the first time...at the entrance of Seven obscure passages, uncertain which to take, will see enough around him to keep his curiosity awake for no inconsiderable time...The rookery of Seven Dials was one of the places that Lascelles' servants searched for Drawlight's debtors.
Grosvenor Prints
grosvenor Prints specialises in antique prints dating from the 17th Century onwards.
Bedford Coffee House
"A few days later Strange and Sir Walter Pole were playing at billiards at the Bedford in Covent-garden. The game had come to an impasse as Sir Walter had begun, as usual, to accuse Strange of transporting billiard balls about the table by magic. Strange declared that he had done no such thing.“I saw you touch your nose,” complained Sir Walter.“Good God!” cried Strange. “A man may sneeze, mayn’t he? I have a cold.”- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeThe Bedford coffee house could count among its patrons Fielding, Pope, Sheridan, Churchill, Garrick, Foote, Quinn, Collins, Horace Walpole and others.Its characters, according to the Connoisseur, 'afforded a greater variety of nearly the same type as those to be found at George's. It was, this authority asserts, crowded every night with men of parts. Almost every one to be met there was a polite scholar and a wit.But the Bedford coffee-house has a more sensational association. It was here, according to Horace Walpole, that James Hackman spent his last few hours of freedom ere he murdered Martha Ray as she was leaving Covent Garden theatre on the night of April 17th, 1779. No tragedy of that period caused so great a sensation. Miss Ray had for some years been the mistress of the Earl of Sandwich, at whose house Hackman first met and fell in love with her.- Coffee Houses of Old London by Henry C. Shelley
