View source for Hanover Square, Westminster

{{Short description|Square in Mayfair, London, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Hanover Square from Stow's London Squares (1750).JPG|thumb|Hanover Square from Stow's ''London Squares'' (1750), looking north across [[Marylebone]], which was then not built up, on the horizon]]
'''Hanover Square''' is a [[List of garden squares in London|green square]] in [[Mayfair]], [[City of Westminster|Westminster]], south west of [[Oxford Circus]] where [[Oxford Street]] meets [[Regent Street]]. Six streets converge on the square which include Harewood Place with links to [[Oxford Street]], Princes Street, Hanover Street, Saint George Street, [[Brook Street]] and Tenderden Street, linking  to [[Bond Street]] and Oxford Street.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=381}}

==History==
Development of the land that would become Hanover Square began shortly after the accession of the [[Electorate of Hanover|Elector of Hanover]] as [[George I of Great Britain|King George I]] in 1714. The land was owned by [[Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough]], who was a soldier and statesman best known for his role in the [[Glorious Revolution]]. He sold off numerous plots for the building of upmarket town houses and villas.

In honour of the coronation of the new English king, the area was named Hanover Square.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=381}} This reflected the century-long Whig Ascendancy because its name echoed the staunch and predominant support among the British Establishment towards the [[Hanoverian succession]] of 1714, and the [[Act of Settlement 1701]] that permanently codified the exclusion of Catholics from the English throne. "Early Hanover Square was decidedly [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]] and most decidedly military", commented architectural historian Sir [[John Summerson]].

Some early residents of Hanover Square included Generals [[William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan|Earl Cadogan]], [[Charles Wills|Sir Charles Wills]], Stewart, Evans, [[George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter|Lord Carpenter]], [[Hamish Smith]] and John Pepper, "names conspicuously associated with episodes in [[War of the Spanish Succession|Marlborough’s war]] and the '[[The Fifteen|Fifteen]]'."<ref>Summerson, pp. 98–100.</ref><ref>Walford, quoting ''Weekly Medley'', 1717.</ref>

The [[parish church]] of [[St George's, Hanover Square]], is 100 metres south of the square (co-fronting Saint George and Maddox Streets), built on land given by [[William Steuart (Scottish soldier)|William Steuart]]. In 1759 [[James Abercrombie (British Army general)|James Abercrombie]], commander-in-chief of British forces in North America during the [[French and Indian War]], resided in St George Street.<ref>Maryland Gazette, 7 June 1759</ref>  Merged or subdivided buildings in many cases, their numbering scheme remains since the early 19th century and is Nos. 1 to 25, consecutively.

While a few of the 18th-century houses remain largely intact, most houses have been replacements of later periods. It is now predominantly occupied by offices, including the London office of ''[[Vogue magazine|Vogue]]''.

In the 2010s, the north west corner of the square was removed and rebuilt as part of the [[Crossrail]] project. A new [[Bond Street station|Bond Street]] entrance for the [[Elizabeth line]] was built, with commercial office space in a new building above.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hellen |first=Nicholas |date=23 October 2022 |title=Bond Street station is finally open — just £500m over budget |language=en |work=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/economics/article/bond-street-station-is-finally-open-just-500m-over-budget-t5c9w0dgl |access-date=2022-10-24 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

==Notable residents==
{{Annotated image
| image = Descriptive_map_of_London_poverty%2C_1889_Wellcome_L0074436.jpg
| image-width = 1000 
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| caption = Booth's Poverty Map, 1889, identifies gold (top) income for Hanover Square and wealthy incomes surrounding; it finds nearest true poverty in Soho a few blocks east; the height of ground is given in feet.
}}

This was among the prestigious streets of the socialite elite of the capital in the 19th century, and increasingly national institutions and corporate headquarters. These included:
*The Hall Woodhouse family, prominent surgeons from the 1870s to 1910s – as to No. 1 
*[[John Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth]], and family in 1823 – as to No. 2<ref>''The Times'' London, England: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 1823: Issue 11799 p. 3</ref>
*Royal Agricultural Society in the 1880s – as to No. 12<ref>''Morning Post'' London, England: Thursday, Dec. 13, 1883: Issue 34780</ref>
*[[Ibbs and Tillett]] event promotion – as to No. 19<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS17364829/TTDA?u=surttda&sid=zotero&xid=0faf6a8d|title=Personal, &c|newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=October 29, 1908|pages=1|via=Gale}}</ref>
*{{abbreviation|Rt Rev|The Right Reverend the}} [[John Egerton (bishop)|John Egerton]], d. 1787, [[Bishop of Durham]] and his wife, daughter of local magnate the [[Earl of Portland]] – as to No. 23<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=BNCN&u=surttda&id=GALE%7CR3209963354&v=2.1&it=r&sid=BNCN&asid=a0592d00|title=Gale – Enter Product Login|website=go.gale.com}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Statue of Pitt the Younger, Hanover Square W1.JPG|Statue of [[William Pitt the Younger]] at the south side of Hanover Square
File:Hanover Square 2.jpg|View to the northeast in Hanover Square
File:Hanover Square 3.jpg|View to the northwest
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

;Bibliography
* [[John Summerson|Sir John Summerson]], ''Georgian London'', London: Penguin, 1969 (revised edition)
* {{citation |first=Edward | last = Walford |author-link = Edward Walford | chapter = Hanover Square and neighbourhood | title=Old and New London |volume=4 |location=London |publisher = Cassell, Petter & Galpin | via = British History Online | year=1878 |pages=314–326 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol4/pp314-326}}
{{london encyclopedia}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}

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[[Category:Mayfair]]
[[Category:Squares in the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:Garden squares in London]]