Significant Dates

1661

Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, started developing the gardens surrounding his house and the surrounding square

1669

The site came into the ownership of the Russell family

1723

Lady Russell died

1780

Anti-Catholic Gordon rioters burned down the town house of the Lord Chief Justice in Bloomsbury Square 

1800s

By the early 19th century, Bloomsbury was no longer fashionable with the upper classes. Consequently the Duke of Bedford of the day moved out of Bedford House, which was demolished and replaced with further terraced houses

1802

Bedford House, in the centre of the gardens, is pulled down

1816

Statue erected of Charles James Fox (1749 - 1806) by Richard Westmacott. He was a Whig associate of the Dukes of Bedford

1817 to 1829

The writer Isaac D'Israeli lived at number 6 and for part of that time his son, the future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, lived with him

Late 1800s

By the time that Herbrand, the 11th Duke, succeeded to the title in 1893, political and popular feeling against the owners of large estates, who lived in a style so remote from the way in which the mass of the population lived, was gaining ground. He decided that land could no longer be regarded as a reliable source of income. Accordingly, he began to sell off the estates that his ancestors had enjoyed for nearly four hundred years.

1900s

The eastern side of the square was occupied by a large early 20th century office building called Victoria House

1900s

The square has had many famous residents but is most closely associated with the literary and artistic 'Bloomsbury Group'. Many members of the group lived in the area in the early decades of the 20th century, including artists Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Dora Carrington, biographer Lytton Strachey and novelist Virginia Wolf

1960s

Construction of an underground car park beneath the gardens

1960s

Redesign of the gardens

2003

Landscaping of the gardens and reopening by the Duke of Bedford