Regent Street, London

AHP and the London office of Donald Insall Associates were commissioned by The Crown Estate, freeholders and arbiters of any change to buildings in this busy central London shopping street, to provide a conservation plan prior to major building works.

Regent Street was first laid out after the Napoleonic War. Designed by John Nash as part of an imposing avenue from the new Regent’s Park to Carlton House, home of the Prince Regent, the street was completed in 1825 and hailed as ‘a masterpiece’ of town planning by contemporary critics.

In 1848 the street’s distinctive colonnades were removed following complaints by shopkeepers about disreputable trades conducted in the shadow of the columns. In 1865 the Café Royal, at the southern end of Regent Street, was opened, becoming a popular meeting place for members of London’s creative social elite including Oscar Wilde and T.S. Elliot.

Nash’s terraces were demolished and rebuilt between 1914 and 1927. The sole surviving building designed by Nash is All Soul’s Church, which closes the vista at the north end of the street.

As the 99 year leases along the street expire, a major refurbishment programme to buildings along the street is now underway. With the aim of informing the refurbishment, repair and conservation programme, AHP provided a historical account of the area from the late eighteenth century until present day. Research was carried out into all the buildings on the west and east sides of Regent Street, from Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Street.

Public

Middlesbrough Town Hall, Cleveland ›
Congress Theatre, Eastbourne ›

Ecclesiastical

Whalley Abbey, Lancashire ›
Ironmonger Row Baths, London ›

Commercial

Regent Street, London ›
Watermen’s Hall, London ›

Military

Dymchurch Redoubt, Kent ›
Carlisle Castle, Cumbria ›

Industrial

Transporter Bridge, Middlesbrough ›
Nantyglo Round Towers, South Wales ›

Country

Gad’s Hill, Kent ›
Sundridge Park, Bromley ›