Bloomsbury Letting Agents
Bloomsbury Location & History
Bloomsbury lies to the east of Marylebone and just north of Soho and Covent Garden. The borders are not clearly defined, but are generally taken to be Oxford Street in the south, Euston Road in the north, Great Portland Street in the west and Woburn Place in the east. Today Bloomsbury is one of the most elegant of London's districts for the area is dominated by grassy squares and beautiful Georgian houses.
Famous for it's literary connections, modern bookshops including the flagship Waterstones store serving the whole of the University of London have been inspired by the Bloomsbury Group, a group of writers, artists and intellectuals that lived in the district of Bloomsbury between the two world wars. The group met to talk, write, and enjoy life - subscribing to G. E. Moore's philosophy that 'by far the most valuable things are the pleasures of human intercourse and the enjoyment of beautiful objects'.
The main focus of the group was Gordon Square, where several of the members lived and where the group frequently met. Although their antics occasionally caused scandal, nevertheless they were the most influential intellectual group of the era and the members, including the novelist Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell, fellow writer EM Forster, the art critic Royer Fry, the economist John Keynes, all became famous in their own rights.
Other literary attractions are the Sherlock Holmes museum in Baker Street, inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the magnificent New British Library on the Euston Road and the University of London library, housed in Senate House which is also often used as a location for film and T.V. crews.
Bloomsbury is also home to the British Museum, housing over 4 million exhibits and possessing a reputation as one of the finest museums in the world with over 6 million visitors a year. The museum recently underwent a facelift with Sir Norman Foster creating the fabulous new roof of the Great Court which has received worldwide architectural acclaim.
The museum was founded in 1753 when Sir Hans Sloane (yes, of Sloane Square) died and left his collection of natural history artefacts, antiquities and art to the nation. In the same year a collection of manuscripts was purchased, which started the museum's literary collection.
During imperialism the collection expanded rapidly, but nowadays there have been accusations that this amounted to cultural piracy. This has led to various demands that several important pieces are returned to their countries of origin, notably the Elgin Marbles that were taken from the Pathenon in Greece. As yet these demands haven't been met and disputes such as these look set to continue.
By the 1840s the collection had outgrown its premises and so the present building, designed by Robert Smirke, was built in1847. Stunning in itself, the impressive exterior gives you a good indication of the standards you can expect inside.
Location : Lifestyle : History : West End
Fitzrovia : Soho : Covent Garden : Bloomsbury : Marylebone
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