St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace. During the Restoration in the 17th century, the area was developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the development of their gentlemen's clubs. Once part of the parish of St Martin in the Fields, much of it formed the parish of St James from 1685 to 1922. Since the Second World War the area has transitioned from residential to commercial use.
The area's name is derived from the dedication of a 12th-century leper hospital to Saint James the Less.[2][3] The hospital site is now occupied by St James's Palace.[4] The area became known as "Clubland" because of the historic presence of gentlemen's clubs.[5][5]
The section of Regent Street (colloquially known as 'Lower Regent Street') that runs between Waterloo Place and Piccadilly Circus has been officially renamed 'Regent Street St James's'.
St James's was in the ancient parish of St Martin in the Fields in the Liberty of Westminster. Attempts made in 1664, 1668 and 1670 to separate St James's from the parish were resisted by St Martin's vestry.[6] The building of St James's Church, Piccadilly in 1684 forced the issue, and a new parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster was created in 1685. The parish stretched from Oxford Street in the north to Pall Mall in the south.[7] It roughly corresponded to the contemporary St James's area, but extended into parts of Soho and Mayfair. Land south of Pall Mall remained in St Martin in the Fields' parish, and St James's Park was split between the parishes of St Martin and St Margaret. St James's Palace was an extra-parochial area and not part of any parish. A select vestry was created for the new parish.
Crown Passage, a narrow street which splits off from Pall Mall opposite Marlborough House and is home to the Red Lion, one of the oldest pubs in London's West End to still be in business.[11]
Haymarket was once the best-known centre of prostitution in London, but no trace remains of this part of its past. It contains two historic theatres: the Haymarket Theatre and Her Majesty's Theatre.
St James's Street, which runs down from Piccadilly to St James's Palace.
Street name etymologies
The following utilises the generally accepted boundaries of St James’s, viz. Piccadilly to the north, Haymarket and Cockspur Street to the east, The Mall to the south and Queen's Walk to the west.
Babmaes Street – named after Baptist May (or Mays), trustee to local landowner Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of Saint Albans; it was formerly known as Babmay's Mews[19][20]
Cockspur Court and Cockspur Street – unknown, though possibly after the cock fighting that formerly occurred here, cocks often having spurs attached to their feet during fights[36]
Crown Passage – thought to be after a former tavern of this name[37]
Haymarket – site of a former market selling hay until the 1830s[39][40]
St James's Market, St James's Place, St James's Square, St James's Street and Little St James's Street – all from St James's Palace,[41] built on the site of the medieval St James's leper hospital which was dedicated to St James the Less, apostle and Bishop of Jerusalem,[2][3] or, according to Sheila Fairfield, writing in The Streets of London (1983), to the other apostle James, son of Zebedee[42]
Piccadilly, Piccadilly Arcade and Piccadilly Circus – after Piccadilly Hall, home of local tailor Robert Baker in the 17th century, believed to be named after the piccadills –cut-work lace trimming used for hems or fashionable broad collars of the 16th and 17th century– which made his fortune. Circus is a British term for an older-style circular road junction; it was laid out by John Nash in 1819[56][57]
Pickering Place – after William Pickering, local painter, stainer and grocer, who leased property here in the 1730s[58][59]
Princes Arcade – built 1929–1933, named after the former Prince's Hotel, which stood here[32]
St James's is 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 many upmarket art and antique dealers including Colnaghi, Agnew's Gallery, Moretti Fine Art, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, Stoppenbach & Delestre Ltd, The Sladmore Gallery and S Franses Ltd.
BP is headquartered in St James's.[75]The area is home to fine wine merchants including Berry Brothers and Rudd, at number 3 St James's Street. Adjoining St James's Street is Jermyn Street, famous for tailoring. Some famous cigar retailers are at 35 St James's Street, occupied by Davidoff of London; J.J. Fox at 19 St James's Street and Dunhill at 50 Jermyn St.
Shoemaker, Wildsmith, designers of the first loafer, was located at 41 Duke Street but is now at 13 Savile Row.
Culture
Art galleries catering for a spectrum of tastes occupy premises in the area. The White Cube gallery, which represents Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, opened in Duke Street before moving to Hoxton Square. In September 2006, it opened a second gallery at 25–26 Mason's Yard, off Duke Street, on a plot previously occupied by an electricity substation. The gallery is the first free-standing building to be built in the area for more than 30 years.
Other notable modern and contemporary art dealers in the St James's area include Helly Nahmad Gallery, Paisnel Gallery, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Thomas Dane, Whitford Fine Art and Panter & Hall.
St James's is home to many of the best known gentlemen's clubs in London, and sometimes, though not as often as formerly, referred to as "Clubland".[76] The clubs are organisations of English high society. A variety of groups come together here, such as military officers, politicians, motoring enthusiasts, yachtsmen, and other groups. In 1990, the Carlton Club, traditional meeting place for members of the Conservative Party, was struck by an IRA bomb.
Townhouse (Great Britain), for the aristocratic nature of speculative building in the development of St James's
References
^"City of Westminster ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
^ a bGriffin 1998.
^ a bRoffey 2012, p. 218.
^Mills 2001, p. 200.
^ a bWalford 1878, pp. 140–164.
^Sheppard 1960, pp. 29–30.
^"Boundary Map of Westminster St James CP/Vest". Visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
^"St James's Ward Profile: July 2013" (PDF). Westminster.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
^"Westminster City Council". Westminster.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
^Sheppard 1960, pp. 322–324.
^Londonist's Back Passage, Londonist.com
^ a bFairfield 1983, p. 171.
^ a b cBebbington 1972, p. 184.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 24.
^Sheppard 1960, pp. 285–287.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 25.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 12.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 26.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 18.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 31.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 28.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 44.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 51.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 50.
^Fairfield 1983, pp. 58–59.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 73.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 61.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 76.
^ a bFairfield 1983, p. 65.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 81.
^ a b cBebbington 1972, p. 189.
^ a bSheppard 1960, pp. 251–270.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 86.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 74.
^Bebbington 1972, pp. 90–91.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 93.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 105.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 104.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 156.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 169.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 287.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 278.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 182.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 204.
^Bebbington 1972, pp. 245–256.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 207.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 208.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 216.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 228.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 234.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 236.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 243.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 239.
^Bebbington 1972, pp. 245–246.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 248.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 248.
^Bebbington 1972, pp. 255–256.
^Sheppard 1960, pp. 433–458.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 256.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 267.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 265.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 274.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 278.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 272.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 280.
^Sheppard 1960, pp. 487–509.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 281.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 282.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 301.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 308.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 309.
^Fairfield 1983, p. 334.
^Bebbington 1972, pp. 336–337.
^Bebbington 1972, p. 388.
^"Contact BP in the United Kingdom". BP worldwide. Archived from the original on 25 May 2009.; "Where we operate: London". BP: United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^"History: Royal Opera Arcade". Royaloperaarcade.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
Sources
Bebbington, Gillian (1972). London street names. London: Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-0140-0.
Fairfield, Sheila (1983). The streets of London: A dictionary of the names and their origins. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-28649-4.
Griffin, J. P. (January–February 1998). "London's medieval hospitals and the Reformation". Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London. 32 (1): 72–76. PMC 9662966. PMID 9507445.
Roffey, Simon (November 2012). "Medieval Leper Hospitals in England: An Archaeological Perspective". Medieval Archaeology. 56 (1): 203–233. doi:10.1179/0076609712Z.0000000007. S2CID 162392427. [Brief mention (only) of St James's Hospital for leprous women]. Some hospitals were perhaps more specific, such as St James the Less in London, which apparently just catered for leprous women."... "The hospital was later replaced in the 16th century by the Palace of St James. Excavations in the 1920s and 1990s revealed evidence for a 12th-century chapel on the site. Citing:
Greenwood, Pamela A; Maloney, Catharine (1995). "London Fieldwork and Publication Round-up 1994". London Archaeologist. 7 (13): 333–354. doi:10.5284/1070869. Retrieved 23 June 2023 – via Archaeology Data Service. St James's Palace, State Apartments, Pall Mall:... The earliest recorded deposits... both dated to the late 11th / early 12th c. They were succeeded by... a building ... identified as the leper hospital of St James the Less.
Sheppard, F. H. W., ed. (1960). Survey of London: St James Westminster, Part 1. Vol. 29 and 30. London: London County Council – via English Heritage: British History Online. Chapters:
"Cleveland Row", in Survey of London: St James Westminster, Part 1, Vol. 29 and 30. Chapter XXVII, pp.487–509
"Duke of York Street", in Survey of London: St James Westminster, Part 1, Vol. 29 and 30. Chapter XI, pp.285–287
"St. James's Street, East Side", in Survey of London: St James Westminster, Part 1, Vol. 29 and 30. Chapter XIV, pp.433–458
"Piccadilly, South Side", in Survey of London: St James Westminster, Part 1, Vol. 29 and 30. Chapter IX, pp.251–270
"Pall Mall", in Survey of London: St James Westminster, Part 1, Vol. 29 and 30. Chapter XVII, pp.322–324
"The Parish and Vestry of St. James", in Survey of London: St James Westminster, Part 1, Vol. 29 and 30. Chapter II, pp.29–30
Walford, Edward (1878). "Pall Mall–Clubland". Old and New London. Vol. 4. London: Cassell, Petter & Galpin. pp. 140–164 – via British History Online.
Further reading
John Timbs (1867), "St. James's", Curiosities of London (2nd ed.), London: J.C. Hotten, OCLC 12878129
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to St James's.
St James's Westminster, Part 1 – a volume of the Survey of London which provides a very detailed architectural history of most of St James's. However a few sections of the parish of St James's fall outside the district, so they are omitted (map).
Map of St James's and surrounding areas Archived 2 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine
Clubland at Virtual London
Tourist Information on St James's
Area website for St James's with profiles on shops, restaurants and galleries in the area and a full events calendar
"St. James's Park – from leper hospital to royal park". The History of London. General interest London history website from Peter Stone