The London Daily Newsletter Friday 3 February

St James’s
St James’s is an exclusive area in the West End of London.

St James’s was once part of the same royal park as Green Park and St James’s Park. In the 1660s, Charles II gave the right to develop the area to Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, who proceeded to develop it as a predominantly aristocratic residential area with a grid of streets centered on St James’s Square. Until the Second World War, St James’s remained one of the most exclusive residential enclaves in London. Famous residences in St James’s include St James’s Palace, Clarence House, Marlborough House, Lancaster House, Spencer House, Schomberg House and Bridgewater House. St James’s is the home of many of the best known gentlemen’s clubs in London. The clubs found here are organisations of English high society. A variety of groups congregate here, such as royals, military officers, motoring enthusiasts and other groups. It is now a predominantly commercial area with some of the highest rents in London and, consequently, the world. The auction house Christie’s is based in King Street, and the surrounding streets contain a great many upmarket art and antique dealers. Office space to rent in St James’s is among the most expensive in the world, costing up to five times average rents in New York, Paris and Sydney. The area is home to fine wine merchants including Berry Brothers and Rudd, at 3 St James’s Street. Adjoining St James’s Street is Jermyn Street, famous for its many tailors. St James’s is home to some of the most famous cigar retailers in London. At 35 St James’s Street is Davidoff of London, 19 St James’s Street is home to J.J. Fox and 50 Jermyn St has Dunhill. The iconic English shoemaker Wildsmith – which designed the first ever loafer – was located at 41 Duke Street, St, James’s. It is now currently located at 13 Savile Row. The area has a good number of art galleries, covering a spectrum of tastes. The White Cube gallery, which has represented Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, originally opened in Duke Street, St James’s, then moved to Hoxton Square. In September 2006, it opened a second gallery in St James’s at 25–26 Mason’s Yard, off Duke Street, on a plot previously occupied by an electricity sub-station. The gallery was the first free-standing building to be built in the St James’s area for more than 30 years.

TUM Book Club: Old Covent Garden
The magic of the old Covent Garden Market is evoked through Clive Boursnell’s photographs, taken over the course of numerous visits to Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Clive Boursnell, then a young photographer, shot thousands of photographs of the old Covent Garden, documenting the end of an era before the markets moved out of central London. Boursnell captured these last days of the market over a period of six years, from 1968 until the market’s closure, in a series of beautiful portraits of the feisty life of a city institution.

’Under London Bridge’ (1920) Dora Meeson is best known for her many fine pictures of the River Thames. As a student at the Slade under Henry Tonks she studied with a number of well-known names including Ursula Tyrwhitt, Ida Nettleship and Gwen Salmond.

Dora Meeson

Video: Oyster
Getting around London with Oyster