A short history of Soho
November 29th 2007 14:59
With its cosmopolitan mix of people and its many diverse bars, restaurants, clubs and cafes, Soho is one of London’s interesting and entertaining areas. It is also one of its most popular with tourists and locals alike.
The land on which Soho was built originally belonged to Westminster Abbey but was appropriated by King Henry VIII and used as a hunting ground until 1652. Its name comes from the call used by the hunters when they spotted a prey. It is one of the oldest settled areas outside the city of London. Aristocrats, whose homes had been destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666, built the first houses and Soho soon became a highly desirable address. As its popularity with the gentry waned, it saw its first wave of migration, mainly from economic and religious refugees, like the French Protestant Huguenots who settled there in 1685. By the 1800s, Soho was home to many different ethnic groups from all parts of Europe as well as fleeing radical political figures and fugitive revolutionaries like Karl Marx.
Soho Square dates back to the time of the first settlement after the Great Fire. At its centre is a shady green pocket handkerchief park, with a statue to Charles II and a wooden summer house which was built in 1875-76. The legacy of Soho Square’s early migrants remains in the French Protestant Church and St Patrick’s church, both built in 1893.
Greek Street, named after Greek refugees from the 17th Century Ottoman invasions still has buildings which survive from that period. Also sited here is the House of St Barnabas for destitute women established in 1746. Its most famous establishment and also part of Soho’s French legacy, is La Maison Bertaux patisserie, the oldest in London and structurally unaltered since it was built in 1871. The former Cat Stevens once lived in Greek Street too!
Gerrard Street, now the location of London’s Chinatown, was won in a duel by Baron Gerard of Brandon and developed as part of the first aristocratic settlement. As the arisitocrats drifted away to the more fashionable West, rents dropped and migrant communities, including French, Italian and Jewish moved in. After World War II, thousands of agricultural workers from Hong Kong arrived. In 1985, the City of Westminster renovated the street in oriental style and made it a pedestrian zone in recognition of the significance of the Chinese community.
Old Compton Street is Soho’s high street and the site of its oldest shop, now the Algerian Coffee Stores. The buildings, bars and restaurants in and around Compton street are steeped in history and the stories of the people who lived and visited there, including great artists, writers and musicians. Next door to Bar Italia, in Frith Street, is the house where Mozart stayed with his family in 1764 and 1765 and above it, the room where John Logie Baird first demonstrated television in 1926. Ronnie Scott’s, over the road, has been the venue for nearly all the big names of jazz since it opened in 1959. The French house in Dean street was a haunt of Maurice Chevalier and General De Gaulle.
Soho is a fascinating area, always alive and always humming with activity. There is always something interesting to do, see, learn, drink and eat in Soho.
The land on which Soho was built originally belonged to Westminster Abbey but was appropriated by King Henry VIII and used as a hunting ground until 1652. Its name comes from the call used by the hunters when they spotted a prey. It is one of the oldest settled areas outside the city of London. Aristocrats, whose homes had been destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666, built the first houses and Soho soon became a highly desirable address. As its popularity with the gentry waned, it saw its first wave of migration, mainly from economic and religious refugees, like the French Protestant Huguenots who settled there in 1685. By the 1800s, Soho was home to many different ethnic groups from all parts of Europe as well as fleeing radical political figures and fugitive revolutionaries like Karl Marx.
The summer house in Soho Square
Soho Square dates back to the time of the first settlement after the Great Fire. At its centre is a shady green pocket handkerchief park, with a statue to Charles II and a wooden summer house which was built in 1875-76. The legacy of Soho Square’s early migrants remains in the French Protestant Church and St Patrick’s church, both built in 1893.
Greek Street, named after Greek refugees from the 17th Century Ottoman invasions still has buildings which survive from that period. Also sited here is the House of St Barnabas for destitute women established in 1746. Its most famous establishment and also part of Soho’s French legacy, is La Maison Bertaux patisserie, the oldest in London and structurally unaltered since it was built in 1871. The former Cat Stevens once lived in Greek Street too!
La Maison Bertaux, Greek Street
Gerrard Street, now the location of London’s Chinatown, was won in a duel by Baron Gerard of Brandon and developed as part of the first aristocratic settlement. As the arisitocrats drifted away to the more fashionable West, rents dropped and migrant communities, including French, Italian and Jewish moved in. After World War II, thousands of agricultural workers from Hong Kong arrived. In 1985, the City of Westminster renovated the street in oriental style and made it a pedestrian zone in recognition of the significance of the Chinese community.
Chinatown, Gerrard Street
Old Compton Street is Soho’s high street and the site of its oldest shop, now the Algerian Coffee Stores. The buildings, bars and restaurants in and around Compton street are steeped in history and the stories of the people who lived and visited there, including great artists, writers and musicians. Next door to Bar Italia, in Frith Street, is the house where Mozart stayed with his family in 1764 and 1765 and above it, the room where John Logie Baird first demonstrated television in 1926. Ronnie Scott’s, over the road, has been the venue for nearly all the big names of jazz since it opened in 1959. The French house in Dean street was a haunt of Maurice Chevalier and General De Gaulle.
Soho is a fascinating area, always alive and always humming with activity. There is always something interesting to do, see, learn, drink and eat in Soho.
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