America in London: A walking tour
The Special Relationship: London and the United States are so deeply bonded. The world’s most powerful country can trace its origins to London’s streets, and ever since its foundation has impacted London perhaps more than any other place. Evidence of this is built into its very fabric; the buildings and streets which define the capital are a wash with interesting tales, some of which I will bore you with now!
If you are visiting from the States, the first thing to know is that travelling anywhere in central London happens to take the exact same time if you travel by car, public transport, or foot. It’s landscape is very level and immersed in history, so get your comfy shoes on and let's take a walk to look at some shared history which will blow your mind. This trip will take you all over London but particularly around Mayfair, St.James and the City of London. Here are 16 key stops to mix in with your sightseeing...
1. The very beginning: The Pilgrim Fathers
Moored on the cobblestone banks of south-east London's historic maritime quarter is The Mayflower, widely regarded as one of London's most atmospheric riverside pubs and one of my favourites. Originally known as the Shippe Inn, this tavern stands adjacent to the original mooring steps where the merchant ship Mayflower was tied up in 1620. Captain Christopher Jones, a prominent local Rotherhithe mariner, boarded his crew and loaded supplies here before sailing to New England.
If you can prove direct descent from one of the original Mayflower passengers, you can sign the pub's exclusive Mayflower Descendants Book. It also remains the only pub in the UK legally licensed to sell both British and American postage stamps!
Explore the Artwork: The Mayflower Pub Rotherhithe Watercolour
2. The Pilgrim Father's father.
St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street. Revered as the spiritual home of British journalism, Sir Christopher Wren’s masterwork (faithfully reconstructed in the 1950s after the Blitz) holds two of America's most vital founding origins. In the 1580s, Eleanor White and Ananias Dare were married here. Shortly after sailing to the New World, Eleanor gave birth on Roanoke Island to Virginia Dare, the very first English child born in North America. Decades later, the parents of Edward Winslow were also wed in this church. Winslow sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, rose to become the multi-term Governor of the Plymouth Colony, and is celebrated as a founding Pilgrim Father.
Take a look at the amazing spire. Standing 226 feet tall, St Bride's features Wren’s second-highest church spire. Its elegant, repeating octagonal tiers are widely credited as the original design inspiration for the classic tiered wedding cake.
Explore the Artwork: St Bride's Church Fleet Street Drawing
3. From famous births to deaths.
The Watch House, Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Holborn). Squeezed onto Giltspur Street in Holborn, this tiny, defensive structure built in 1761 tells a grim story of 18th-century medical science and the founding of the first permanent English settlement in America. The adjacent church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate is the final resting place of Captain John Smith, the founder of Jamestown, Virginia. Smith—famously saved from execution by Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan—was buried in the south aisle of the church.
The Watch House itself was built to guard the churchyard against "resurrection men" (body-snatchers) who illegally dug up fresh corpses to sell to anatomy students at nearby hospitals like St Bartholomew’s. This terrible profession touches another important figure in U.S. history, so read on!
Explore the Artwork: Watch House C of the Holy Sepulchre Holborn Drawing
4. London’s oldest church and its relationship with America’s independence
Founded in AD 675 by the Abbey of Barking, All Hallows is the oldest church in the City of London, predating the nearby Tower of London by nearly three centuries. This ancient church survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 thanks to the quick thinking of Admiral William Penn (father of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania). Admiral Penn ordered his naval dockyard men to demolish the surrounding wooden buildings, successfully creating a firebreak that saved the structure. Pennsylvania was central to American independence; Independence Hall is where the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the U.S. Constitution (1787–88) were debated and adopted.
If you visit All Hallows, take a look at the small crypt museum; it has an intact Roman pavement, a visible Saxon arch, and served as a temporary resting place for notable figures executed on Tower Hill.
Explore the Artwork: All Hallows-by-the-Tower Watercolour
5. From Pennsylvania with love: Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin was sent to London twice, once as a young man to advance his writing and later to petition the Crown. He was sent both times by the governor of Pennsylvania, which provides a nice relationship with All Hallows above.
Tucked near Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square is a modest, four-story Georgian brick townhouse that represents one of the most significant intellectual addresses in American history, with a bit of a dark secret. This is the world's only surviving former residence of Benjamin Franklin, where he lived and worked for nearly sixteen years (1757 to 1775). Franklin used this house as his primary headquarters while serving as a colonial agent, scientist, publisher, and diplomat, trying desperately to negotiate peace before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
During structural restoration in 1997–98, builders uncovered a pit beneath the former garden floor containing over 1,200 fragments of human bone. The remains belonged to over 15 bodies dissected by Franklin’s housemate, William Hewson, a pioneering anatomist who likely paid grave robbers to steal fresh corpses for his secret medical experiments!
Explore the Artwork: Watercolour of Benjamin Franklin House London
John Adam's House, Mayfair , London | Architectural Illustration: Grosvenor Square , London |
6. Little America.
Grosvenor Square has been called both "Little America" (and briefly "Eisenhower Platz” ) over the years. It has so many links to the States, but perhaps the most overlooked is John Adams’ House, Grosvenor Square.
Located at 9 Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, this elegant brick townhouse represents the very birth of official US-UK diplomatic relations. Following the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, John Adams (who would go on to become the second President of the United States) resided in this house from 1785 to 1788 as the very first U.S. Minister to the Court of St. James’s.
Adams later became the first U.S. President to move into the newly completed White House in Washington, D.C., in 1800. If you visit (and you should), take a stroll around the gardens and see the many US statues, even Ronald Reagan makes a guest appearance together with a fragment of the Berlin Wall.
Explore the Artwork: John Adams' House Mayfair London Drawing
7. The former embassy (and still the best)
At the head of the square is a building which is highly noticeable as a modernist icon in an otherwise historic setting. Eero Saarinen’s Former US Embassy, Grosvenor Square. Dominating the west side of Grosvenor Square is the bold, mid-century modernist masterpiece that served as the diplomatic face of the U.S. in London for over half a century. Designed in the late 1950s by legendary Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and completed in 1960, the building features a striking gilded eagle with a 35-foot wingspan (made from an old US bomber plane). In a classic display of diplomatic compromise, the U.S. paid only a symbolic peppercorn rent to the Duke of Westminster to lease this prestigious Mayfair ground. That said, the U.S. wanted to own the freehold, but the Duke demanded the return of his properties in the U.S. which were confiscated after the American War of Independence (apparently, this was a joke!). It’s now a hotel, so go to the rooftop bar and see the eagle up close. Also, take a look across the square to see the plaque noting Eisenhower's office where he planned the D-Day landings. The replacement building is in Nine Elms and lacks the strength and architecture but is much more secure.
Explore the Artwork: Former US Embassy Grosvenor Square Mayfair Print
8. Around the corner: 10,000 sandbags and 5.5 million meals.
The Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane. Overlooking Hyde Park, this luxury hotel has hosted kings, presidents, and stars, but its most important historical chapter occurred behind sandbags during the dark days of WWII. Following the U.S. entry into the war, the hotel was heavily fortified with over 10,000 defensive sandbags and miles of thick blackout cloth. Starting in 1943, its grand rooms were repurposed to serve as the official Allied Officers' Mess, regularly sheltering Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton as they drafted the plans to liberate Europe and serving 5.5 million meals over the war. The perfect place to host, as when Arthur Octavius Edwards built the hotel between 1927 and 1929, he specifically targeted wealthy American tourists. It even opened a sales office on Fifth Avenue in New York just to sell hotel rooms directly to Americans!
Explore the Artwork: The Grosvenor House Hotel Mayfair London Print
9. The Ritz
The Ritz Hotel, Mayfair, perhaps the most famous hotel in the world, is a byword for Gilded Age luxury—but during WWII, it double-hatted as a high-security political war room. In the hotel's spectacular Marie Antoinette Suite, which still retains its original Louis XVI furnishings based on a salon in the Palace of Versailles, Winston Churchill, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and General Charles de Gaulle met regularly for secret summit meetings to plan Allied military operations.
Explore the Artwork: The Ritz Hotel Mayfair London Painting
10. The beginning of US independence
The Lansdowne Club, Mayfair. Located at Fitzmaurice Place, this exclusive private club houses some of the most beautifully preserved 18th-century neoclassical rooms in London. Originally built in the 1760s as Lansdowne House, the London residence of William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (also known as Lord Shelburne), who served as British Prime Minister in 1782–83, Franklin was a frequent guest at Lansdowne House. Within the quiet curves of the club's famous Robert Adam-designed Round Room, Benjamin Franklin reportedly spent weeks helping draft the 1782 Treaty of Paris, which formally concluded the American Revolutionary War and recognised U.S. independence. Perhaps spurred on by this important act, in the 1920s, the mansion was leased by the legendary American retail pioneer Harry Gordon Selfridge. Today, the club's resident cats, Harry and Rose, are named in affectionate honour of the Selfridges.
Explore the Artwork: The Lansdowne Club Mayfair Neoclassical Painting .
11. Sit next to the greats
The Allies Sculpture, New Bond Street. Located in the heart of Mayfair’s exclusive shopping district, is a life-size bronze monument that has become a premier photo stop for international visitors. Created by Anglo-American sculptor Lawrence Holofcener and unveiled in 1995 by Princess Margaret, this famous bench sculpture depicts Sir Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt sitting in warm conversation, symbolising 50 years of post-war transatlantic peace. Over the last three decades, thousands of tourists have sat between the two leaders on the bench, leaving brightly polished, shiny brass patches on the bronze knees and hands of both Churchill and FDR from constant touching.
Explore the Artwork: Allies Sculpture New Bond Street Mayfair Print
12. The most American prime minister.
St James’s Place (Winston’s Nursery). Just a short walk from Bond Street is an elegant late 17th-century brick townhouse that served as the childhood sanctuary of Britain's most famous transatlantic leader. This Grade II listed townhouse was the home of Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill from 1880 to 1882, serving as the childhood nursery for a five-year-old Winston Churchill. Churchill’s mother, Jennie Jerome, was a prominent American socialite, making Winston a physical, genetic bridge between our two nations. Facing the prospect of being sent away to boarding school, a seven-year-old Winston wrote of his reluctance to leave his toys in this nursery, which included "a real steam engine, a magic lantern, and a collection of toy soldiers already nearly a thousand strong. From here a two-minute walk to our next stop...
Explore the Artwork: 29 St. James's Place Churchill Child Home Drawing
13. A little piece of Texas in London, no seriously!
Tucked discreetly behind the ancient oak-panelled storefront of wine merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd lies Pickering Place, London’s smallest square. The historic home of duels, bear-baiting, and independent Texas. In 1824, this tiny, cobbled courtyard served as the official Texas Legation (Embassy) during the decade when Texas was an independent republic before joining the United States. In a delightfully quirky historical twist, the Texan delegation abruptly departed London, leaving a substantial rent bill unpaid. The debt was not officially settled until a delegation of modern Texans returned to St. James's to repay it in the 1980s.
Explore the Artwork: Pickering Place St James London Drawing
14. The most American hotel, but you do stay in horse stables.
The Stafford, St. James’s Place. Originally constructed in the 17th century, this five-star hotel hides a labyrinth of brick-vaulted wine cellars that are among the oldest and most historic in London. During the darkest months of the Second World War, these subterranean brick cellars took on a vital new role, serving as an air-raid shelter for U.S. and Canadian servicemen stationed in London. Today, the cellars house an informal museum dedicated to preserving this wartime transatlantic camaraderie.
The hotel's rear mews features original horse stables that have been converted into luxury rooms, each beautifully named after a famous racehorse.
Explore the Artwork: The Stafford St James's Place London Art Print
15. A model for American worship.
Grosvenor Chapel on South Audley Street may look quite familiar. Built in 1730, the Grosvenor Chapel did not have a formal architect. Instead, a builder named Benjamin Timbrell constructed it entirely by using architectural pattern books of the era, heavily copying the classic Georgian blueprints laid out by James Gibbs (who designed the one on Trafalgar Square). The simple design took off in the US as it mixed simplicity with grandeur and was easy to replicate, becoming the predominant style of U.S. church.
Another lovely connection: the Grosvenor Chapel also served as the official place of worship for American Armed Forces stationed in London during World War II. Now around the corner for a pint...
16. Presidential Fish and Chips.
By now it’s time for a drink. The Audley Public House, Mount Street. Built in 1888 to the designs of Thomas Verity, this five-storey red-brick and pink terracotta masterpiece is one of London's most beautiful examples of a Victorian "gin palace" style pub. Lovingly refurbished its well with a visit if you are or not a president. In June 2009, during a private, low-key trip to London, First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters visited The Audley. Seeking a "classic English pub" experience, the family dined upstairs in the dining room on a traditional pub supper, cementing the pub's place in modern transatlantic history and surprising the staff.
Explore the Artwork: The Audley Public House Mayfair London Painting
Hope this helps ouline a few of the amazing historical connections the U.S. has with London. I will follow up with places outside of London soon!
About the Artist Christian Coop, MSAI, is an architect and artist documenting the UK’s built heritage through one of the largest contemporary collections of architectural watercolours. With 30 years of experience an architect and a Design Director at leading global firms, his work has been featured by CNN, the BBC, and the RIBA Journal. He is currently an Associate Partner and Design Director at HTA.
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