Marylebone Village: Sherlock, Stucco, and Sonatas
- Jun 16
- 8 min read
London is really a series of villages which have merged over the years. Enter the great estates, the great custodians of Central London. Each uniquely curates their places with an eye on legacy rather than just profit; places thrive. I find Marylebone uniquely satisfying because it was shaped by the great Portman and Howard de Walden Estates, creating a grid of elegant streets that feels like an intimate village despite being bordered by the rush of Oxford Street. This blog explores the "hidden histories" behind my latest fineliner and watercolour studies.
Firstly a lot is in a name. Marylebone is one of Central London's most unusual and has London’s most sinister backstory. The area was originally called Tyburn and was London’s principal execution site for 650 years (from 1196), where up to 200,000 people gathered to watch highwayman Jack Shepherd hang in 1724. It was home to the legendary Tyburn tree which was a gallows which could hang 24 people at the same time, nice. Even death didn’t save you from the tree In 1661 Oliver Cromwell was dug up and hung, even nicer. The place seriously needed a rebrand. In 1400 a church we built ‘Mary le Bourne’ ...Ty-burn… Bourne… Bone. Hence Mary Le Bone, the now lovey gentile and cultured place, where Lord Byron was born…bourne…bone.
1. The Gateway to the North: The Landmark Hotel
We begin on Marylebone Road at The Landmark (originally the Hotel Great Central). Opened in 1899, it was one of London's last great railway hotels, designed with a massive central courtyard so that horse-drawn carriages could drive directly inside to drop off guests away from the station’s soot.Its now one of London’s killer courtyards adorning many an instagram discovery page. Not bad for a building once nicknamed the “The Kremlin” when it was headquarters of the British Railways Board.Its also worth popping into Marylebone Station opened 1899) was the last major mainline railway built in London, designed as a humble terminus to avoid competing with nearby stations it has an intimate ‘Marylebone’ type feel
2. A Symphony of History: The Royal Academy of Music
Adjacent to the hotel sits the Royal Academy of Music. Founded in 1822, it is the oldest music conservatoire in the UK. Its presence here anchors Marylebone as a global hub for musical excellence indeed the stairway has the lyrics of the national anthem inscribed in its design. Elton John studied here.
3. Love and Literature: St Marylebone Parish Church
A few steps away is St Marylebone Parish Church. This building is famous for its literary connections: Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett were married here in 1846, and the church archives still preserve their marriage certificate. The name of the district itself, "St Mary by the Bourne," refers to this church’s location beside a lost stream. Browning and Barrett’s story if perhaps the best Victorian love affair, it has elements of forbidden love, intellectual connection and an evil father.
Elizabeth Barrett, a talented but fragile poet living under her tyrannical father’s control, was already famous when Robert Browning began writing to her. They fell in love through letters and a quiet, deep intellectual connection, but Mr Barrett refused to allow Elizabeth to marry and would have cut her off completely if she did. In secrecy, they arranged to marry. On 12 September 1846, they were married at the church. After the ceremony, Elizabeth returned to her family home, ate dinner with her father as if nothing had happened, and then vanished to Italy with Robert to avoid his anger. They initially lived in Pisa, then moved to Florence and settled at Casa Guidi in 1847. In Italy’s warmer climate, Elizabeth’s health improved dramatically—she went from being an “invalid” to a thriving poet and mother. They had a son, Robert Weideman, in 1849. The couple lived in Italy for almost their entire married life, writing poetry and enjoying the cultural richness of Florence.Elizabeth died suddenly in Florence in 1861, at age 55, while Robert was holding her.
4. A Fictional Reality: The Sherlock Holmes Museum
Heading to 221B Baker Street, we find The Sherlock Holmes Museum. While Holmes was a work of fiction, the building is a real, Grade II listed Georgian townhouse so meticulously preserved that it captures the exact "look and feel" of the Victorian era. Interesting fact Baker Street was a real, respectable “genteel” residential district in Marylebone, but the number 221B didn’t actually exist when Doyle wrote A Study in Scarlet (1887). At that time, Baker Street numbers only went up to 84. While studying medicine in Edinburgh (1876–1880), Doyle lived at 23 George Square, and the residence next door was 23-B did this inspire the “B” suffix?
5. Cheques and community: Raising a glass and hell in Marylebone
You can find all minor of people and things in pubs and Marylebone has a few surprises.
The Duke of Wellington: Located at 94A Crawford Street, this pub dates back to 1812.Pop in and have a look at the cheque signed by the Duke of Wellington himself on its front wall.It is an original Coutts Bank cheque signed by the Duke of Wellington, dated 11 April 1825, for the amount of £70-18-7 (seventy pounds, eighteen shillings, and seven pence). Thats around £100,000 in todays money, I wonder if it is still valid?
The Duke of Kendal: A cornerstone of the "village" vibe near Connaught Street, this pub remains a social anchor for the local community. A bit different from the grandeur of Wellington’s cheque here you will find ’Steve’s bar stool” a regular guy and neighbour of Tony Blair who lives nearby.
Home House was commissioned by Lady Home (Elizabeth OSBORNE), who was notorious as the “Queen of Hell” for her wild partying lifestyle. This was her pleasure palace and is now a club with a motto “what happens at Home House stays at Home House”. Home House famously operates with a “no rules” philosophy where “nudity is simply discouraged” — a deliberately cheeky, hedonistic approach. Madonna stayed here. It does actually sound like hell.
6. Chiltern Chic: London’s most lovely local street?
Chiltern Street is often cited as one of London's most attractive streets it has a few things to spot especially if you look up. On the plus side you’ll find Neptune (God of water) faces decorating Wendover Court, built 1890–1900 as a philanthropic project for working-class homes. On the weird side strange demonic/hellish figures near Marylebone Road. Above the Victorian Portman Mansion blocks you’ll see bizarre faces that seem like “hell breaks loose”. No one knows why they’re there.
Chiltern Firehouse: Originally the Manchester Square Fire Station (1889), its elaborate roofline and Portland stone arches define the street. The fancy watchtower was the 19th-century way of spotting nearby fires when London was much lower in scale
Monocle Café: A few doors down, this concept café for the global magazine but is kind of low key and has good coffee (and a splattering of Monocle magazines) It does highlight the retrained coolness of Marylebone as a place in London
7. International worship: American and Spanish.
Marylebone is exceptionally cosmopolitan—it houses both St James’s Roman Catholic Church on Spanish Place (serving the Spanish community) and the American Church in London on Tottenham Court Road, making it one of London’s most internationally diverse religious neighbourhoods.
St James’ Church, Spanish Place: This church has deep ties to the Embassy of Spain, dating back to the reign of Elizabeth I when the Spanish Ambassador used the Bishops of Ely's chapel as a sanctuary for English Catholics. St James’s is actually built on the site of the old Spanish Embassy chapel and its why its address is ’Spanish Place’ part of the old Spanish Embassy. Indeed Alfonso XIII’s personal standard still hangs above the Sacristy entrance. Another interesting fact The present building was completed in 1827 but not consecrated until 1949—a 122-year gap! The delay was caused by a Cardinal’s death in 1936, then World War II.
The American Church: Originally established to serve the American expatriate community, this institution caters to over 30 different nationalities, reflecting modern Marylebone.The church’s modern history begins in the 1940s, when Americans worshipped together at Grosvenor Chapel during the Second World War under U.S. Navy chaplains. It’s why Grosvenor Chapel seems so familiar, this design became the standard pattern for US chapels. After the war, the congregation grew among State Department and Defense Department families, and in 1969 it became independent as the American Church in London. It moved to the Whitefield Memorial Church in 1972, the church which originated in 1756 was rebuilt after it was perhaps fittingly destroyed by a V-2 rocker on Palm Sunday in 1945. An unfortunate act but intwines the US connection with Britain in both conflict and religion.
8. Wax, Wallace and Wigmore: The varied art of Marylebone.
Three very different places which shift between the fabricated and the authentic, the visual and the auditory, the populist and the scholarly and of course as it is London the free and the bloody expensive.
Madame Tussauds. Interestingly this is the original one founded by Tussaud a French wax sculptor born in 1761 in Strasbourg. In 1835, she established a permanent exhibition in London at the Baker Street Bazaar, moving to its current location in 1884. She learned wax modeling from Philippe Curtius, made early figures of famous people like Voltaire, and during the French Revolution she is said to have made death masks of executed nobles and royals - but today its Harry Styles, I think we may of lost something along the way.
The Wallace Collection is one of my favourites. Located in Hertford House, It feels just like the grand house it was but also intimate. It was built up over five generations of the Seymour-Conway family, especially the 3rd and 4th Marquesses of Hertford, and later Sir Richard Wallace.Gifted to the nation in 1879 by Lady Wallace its free and has a lovely cafe in its courtyard. Not so lovely is the armoury which contains a Brest shield with a Huge canon ball hole in it.
Wigmore Hall is one of London’s great small concert venues, and its intimacy is a huge part of its charm. It opened in 1901 as Bechstein Hall, then took its current name in 1917 during the First World War, under unfortunate circumstances. The original German-owned Bechstein Hall was seized by the government and sold when war broke out between Germany and Britain. The BBC broadcast its first live concerts from here.
9. The Cathedral of Books and pickles: Daunt Books
We finish on Marylebone High Street, home to Daunt Books. An Edwardian masterpiece, this was the world’s first purpose-built bookshop, famous for its long, oak-galleried back room and beautiful stained-glass windows. What is so impressive is the bookshop design is still the best in London, simple to navigate, intimate and impressive at the same time. So do visit and enjoy browsing the books and dodging the influencers.
Browsing does make people hungry, and nowhere is better than Paul Rothe & Son. Lovely sandwiches from this little changed shop in the same family for four generations. It has an amazing amount of pickles — alongside jams, chutneys, and other old-school condiments — I mean piles of them. Marylebone High Street is one of the jewels of London. A village high street with lots of lovely independent shops, which makes you think ‘I could live here’, which I obviously can’t as I am just a humble watercolourist!
Futrher reading.
Marylebone Town Hall including my lovely watercolours:https://www.adaytoremember.london/
Understand more about the great Estates: Portman Estate's History and the Howard de Walden Estate
Check out my Bridal collection including Marylebone Town Hall: new Bridal & Romantic Collection gallery
More of my watercolours at Londonist: This Architect Creates Incredible Watercolours
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