Description
Montagu Square is the only purely residential square left in Westminster and has a narrow oblong garden. Developed for the Portman Estate, Montagu Square was designed by Joseph Parkinson, District Surveyor of Westminster, as a twin for Bryanston Square. It is named after Mrs Elizabeth Montagu of Portman Square. The houses were built from 1811 but the garden was laid out in c.1800. Famous residents include Anthony Trollope, who lived in No 39 from 1873-1880. In 1999 the residents restored the railings, which had been removed during WWII.
Practical Information
| Site location | Montagu Square/ George Street, Marylebone |
|---|---|
| Postcode | W1H 2LA |
| What3Words | ///crops.people.range |
| Type of Site | Garden Square |
| Borough | Westminster |
| Open to Public | Occasionally |
| Opening Times | Has opened for London Open Gardens. Otherwise private, for key holders only. |
| Events | open for London Garden Squares Day |
| Public Transport | Tube: Baker Street (Bakerloo, Hammersmith & City, Circle, Metropolitan, Jubilee), Marble Arch (Central). Bus: 2, 13, 30, 74, 82, 139, 159, 274. |
| Research Updated | 1 June 2005 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Montagu Square is the only purely residential square left in Westminster and has a beautiful and tranquil garden of narrow oblong shape. The land was within the Portman Estate, and Montagu Square was designed by Joseph Parkinson, District Surveyor of Westminster, as a twin for Bryanston Square, and built from 1811 by David Porter. The two squares are the chief compositions of the estate between Gloucester Place and Edgware Road (Pevsner). Montagu Square was named after Mrs Elizabeth Montagu, the rear of whose house on the north-west corner of Portman Square formed the southern closure of the new square.
While the houses were not begun until 1811, the gardens appear to have been established several years earlier, soon after 1800. In 1808 there was an application by the parish to the vestry for lamps to be placed around `such parts of the garden as are now paved', and in 1811, an early lease for No.14 charges the tenant for `sowing, mowing, gravelling and painting and keeping up the garden... and painting the iron railings and lighting the lamps'. Maintenance of the communal garden, the freehold of which remained with the Portman family, was vested in a Trust set up by an Act of Parliament in 1813. The Trust levied a rate to pay for the garden upkeep on the occupiers of the houses in Montagu Square. In 1928 the garden is described as 'a long narrow enclosure surrounded by a thick shrubbery', 'laid out as lawns, with some fine trees'.
Charles Knight in 1844 mocks the two squares as `twin deformities', but in fact they are not a pair. The facades are different: the houses in Montagu Square have a shallow bay window carried up polygonally - they were sourly ridiculed by Knight as being `constructed in the most approved Brighton fashion, each with its little bulging protuberance, to admit a peep into neighbours parlours'. The gardens too are different: distinctive egg-timer `waist', now unfortunately looking like parking bays. The buildings in Montagu Square are less altered, but the garden is less interesting, although possibly more carefully maintained.
The path layout is a straightforward perimeter walk as it appears always to have been. An early watercolour plan in the Portman estate archives shows the waist densely planted with a circular path feature, now replaced by a box hedge and sundial. The trees are less imposing than those in Bryanston; there are also modern flower beds or strips. The boundary is contained partly by modern, post 1961, railings, and partly by wire mesh fencing and a privet hedge. The square contains two buildings: at the northern end a recent wooden shelter, and at the southern end a brick building, also recent, with beds in front, contained by modern brick piers and a wrought iron gate. A cast iron waterpump in the garden opposite of no. 15 dates from the early 19c. and is designed in the form of a Doric column (the same one is to be seen in Bryanston SquareI). Famous residents include Anthony Trollope, who lived in No 39 from 1873-1880. In 1999 the residents restored the railings which had been removed during WWII.
While the houses were not begun until 1811, the gardens appear to have been established several years earlier, soon after 1800. In 1808 there was an application by the parish to the vestry for lamps to be placed around `such parts of the garden as are now paved', and in 1811, an early lease for No.14 charges the tenant for `sowing, mowing, gravelling and painting and keeping up the garden... and painting the iron railings and lighting the lamps'. Maintenance of the communal garden, the freehold of which remained with the Portman family, was vested in a Trust set up by an Act of Parliament in 1813. The Trust levied a rate to pay for the garden upkeep on the occupiers of the houses in Montagu Square. In 1928 the garden is described as 'a long narrow enclosure surrounded by a thick shrubbery', 'laid out as lawns, with some fine trees'.
Charles Knight in 1844 mocks the two squares as `twin deformities', but in fact they are not a pair. The facades are different: the houses in Montagu Square have a shallow bay window carried up polygonally - they were sourly ridiculed by Knight as being `constructed in the most approved Brighton fashion, each with its little bulging protuberance, to admit a peep into neighbours parlours'. The gardens too are different: distinctive egg-timer `waist', now unfortunately looking like parking bays. The buildings in Montagu Square are less altered, but the garden is less interesting, although possibly more carefully maintained.
The path layout is a straightforward perimeter walk as it appears always to have been. An early watercolour plan in the Portman estate archives shows the waist densely planted with a circular path feature, now replaced by a box hedge and sundial. The trees are less imposing than those in Bryanston; there are also modern flower beds or strips. The boundary is contained partly by modern, post 1961, railings, and partly by wire mesh fencing and a privet hedge. The square contains two buildings: at the northern end a recent wooden shelter, and at the southern end a brick building, also recent, with beds in front, contained by modern brick piers and a wrought iron gate. A cast iron waterpump in the garden opposite of no. 15 dates from the early 19c. and is designed in the form of a Doric column (the same one is to be seen in Bryanston SquareI). Famous residents include Anthony Trollope, who lived in No 39 from 1873-1880. In 1999 the residents restored the railings which had been removed during WWII.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ278815 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | The Portman Estate |
| Site Management | Montagu Square Trust |
| Dates | 1800 |
| Designers | Joseph Parkinson, District Surveyor of Westminster |
| Listed Structures | LBII: east side 1- 5, 6, 7 -12, 13- 17, 18, 19, 20-22, 23, 24-26; north side no. 30; west side 33 & 34, 35, 36, 37-39, 40, 41, 42 & 43, 44, 45, 46, 47-49, 50-51, 52-59, 60 & 61- 63; cast iron water pump in garden opposite of no. 15. |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | Yes |
| Local Authority | Westminster |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Portman Estate |
| Tree Preservation Order | Yes |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
Bryanston Square is an early C19th garden square built on the Portman Estate. Montagu Square and Bryanston Square were the chief compositions of the estate between Gloucester Place and Edgware Road. The garden was provided for residents of surrounding houses. It retains notable London plane trees, mainly around the perimeter but also on the central lawn, a memorial drinking fountain erected in 1862/3, and the path layout is recognisably descended from the symmetrically undulating perimeter.
Great Cumberland Place was built as part of the Portman Estate development, which took place between the 1760s and 1820. On an axis with Marble Arch, the southern part of Great Cumberland Place was planned as a circus or double crescent, but only the eastern crescent was completed, built in 1789. The crescent of houses, including the Western Marble Arch Synagogue at No.32, are now set back from the road behind a landscaped open space, which was laid out as a memorial to the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, with a statue unveiled in 1998.
* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens
The Portman family's estate in Marylebone in the C18th comprised 200 acres of meadowland that had been passed down from a Tudor ancestor. When Henry William Portman began to develop his land from 1764, Portman Square was the first square to be built, acting as the centrepiece of the new development. The garden enclosure was laid out c.1780 as a Wilderness and in the C19th had a movable temple erected by the Turkish ambassador, which enabled him to enjoy the seasons. It remains a private garden for residents of Portman Square, surrounded by privet hedge and containing fine London plane and other trees and shrubs. A major renovation of the gardens was undertaken in 2005.
The Portman family's estate in Marylebone in the C18th comprised 200 acres of meadowland that had been passed down from a Tudor ancestor. When Henry William Portman began to develop his land from 1764, Portman Square was the first square to be built, acting as the centrepiece of the new development. The garden enclosure was laid out c.1780 as a Wilderness and in the C19th had a movable temple erected by the Turkish ambassador, which enabled him to enjoy the seasons. It remains a private garden for residents of Portman Square, surrounded by privet hedge and containing fine London plane and other trees and shrubs. A major renovation of the gardens was undertaken in 2005.