St George's Square *

Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list. The Register Entry was updated in October 2019 to reflect the landscaping modifications that occurred in the C20th and early C21st. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.

St George's Square has a long narrow garden between Grosvenor Road and Lupus Street, terminated at the north end by the Church of St Saviour, which was built in 1864 to the designs of Thomas Cundy the Younger. An additional small rectangular area is at the junction of Lupus Street and Belgrave Road. The two garden enclosures were provided for the private use of residents of St George's Square, and laid out by 1850 to designs of Thomas Cubitt, who issued keys to the first residents around the square in 1854. The development of the Marquess of Westminster's land in the Pimlico area had commenced c.1835 and this represents the third phase of Cubitt's Pimlico development in Westminster. St George's Square was laid out in 1839 as two parallel streets running north to south, becoming a formal square by 1843. The garden was unusual in that it extended to the river, having its own pier for boats and steamers. In 1874 the area south of Grovsenor Road was transferred to the local authority and named Pimlico Gardens (q.v.), which in 1915 opened as a public garden, St George's Square garden remained in the ownership of the Duke of Westminster with maintenance undertaken by the lessees and occupants of the houses in the square, overseen by a Committee made up of residents. In 1928 St George's Square was described as 'well-kept and attractively laid out with lawns, flower beds, etc.' and it contained 'some fine trees'. The garden is now owned by Westminster City Council and open to the public.

The layout of the garden is little changed and it still retains its C19th character with barley sugar edgings to the paths and shrubberies. Cubitt himself took an interest in the layout and planted character of his squares and supplied gardens with trees and
shrubs from his own nursery. The garden is largely laid to grass, with flower beds and mature trees, mainly around the perimeter, and an ornamental fountain, The trees are predominantly London plane but there are also sycamore, ash, horse chestnut, tree-of-heaven and red-flowered hawthorn, and an English elm tree (to check if still there). At the northern end is the site of an underground bomb shelter, now planted over. The southern extremity of the garden has an area of rough grass that is reserved for the use of dog walkers.

The triangular enclosure to the north of the main garden is in private ownership and not publicly accessible; once part of the garden square it was laid out informally with winding paths among a thicket of trees..To the north of the Square is a cabmen's shelter erected in 1893 by the Cabmen's Shelter Fund. The modern glass GLC Pimlico School, designed by John Bancroft from 1966-70 lies to the west of the square. In 2007 consultation with the local community was carried out by Groundwork North London to assess potential improvements to the gardens, including paths, planting and seats.

In June 2020, St George's Square was added to Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, designated Grade II. Reasons for listing include its design interest as a good example of a mid C19th garden square; its historic interest as an example of Thomas Cubitt's work and his Pimlico development; the degree of survival of its original form; and also for group value with listed buildings of St George's Square. The triangular area to the north has not been included in the listing.