pimlico

pimlico

pimlico history

Pimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster that is primarily residential and well known for its collection of small hotels and impressive Regency architecture.

The area is roughly delimited by Victoria Railway Station to the north and the River Thames to the south, spanned by Vauxhall Bridge. At its centre lies the Pimlico 'Grid', a highly desirable residential area bordered by Belgrave Road to the East, Westmoreland Terrace to the West, Lupus Street to the South and Eccleston Square to the North. The Grid is populated by handsome, stucco-fronted late Regency/early Victorian properties. The entire district was formerly owned by the Grosvenor family.

The large majority of the buildings in Pimlico are residential and were designed by the architect/builder Thomas Cubitt. A statue of Cubitt can be seen in the area.

Notable residents have included Sir Winston Churchill, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Laura Ashley, Swami Vivekananda, Laurence Olivier, Jomo Kenyatta, Aubrey Beardsley, Joseph Conrad, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, Michael Howard, Richard Dadd, and Francis Urquhart (fictional).

n the 16th and 17th centuries, the Manor of Ebury (from which Pimlico's Ebury Street gets its name) was divided up and leased by the Crown to servants or favourites. In 1623, James I sold the freehold of Ebury for £1,151 and 15 shillings (£1,151.75). The land was sold on several more times, until it came into the hands of heiress Mary Davies in 1666.

Millbank Prison in the 1820s.

1867 map of Pimlico

Statue of Thomas Cubitt by William Fawke in Denbigh Street

Mary's dowry not only included "The Five Fields" of modern-day Pimlico and Belgravia, but also most of what is now Mayfair and Knightsbridge. Understandably, she was much pursued, but in 1677 married Sir Thomas Grosvenor. The Grosvenors were a family of Norman descent long seated at Eaton Hall in Cheshire who until this auspicious marriage were but of local consequence in their native county of Cheshire. Through the development and good management of this land the Grosvenors acquired enormous wealth.

At some point in the late 17th or early 18th century, Pimlico ceased to be known as Ebury or "The Five Fields", and gained the name by which it is now known, although it was also known as South Belgravia to some residents from its development until the early part of the twentieth century:

At one time a district of public gardens much frequented on holidays. According to tradition, it received its name from Ben Pimlico, famous for his nut-brown ale, His tea-gardens, however, were near Hoxton, and the road to them was termed Pimlico Path, so that what is now called Pimlico was so named from the popularity of the Hoxton resort. (Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1898 edn.).

Pimlico was not all salubrious. This buttress commemorates the district's Millbank Prison (1816–1880). Originally, this was on the spot from which prisoners were transported to Australia.(October 2005)

The name may also derive from a Spanish word for drink, or even from the Native American Pamlican tribe, as many locals believe. By the 19th century, and as a result of an increase in demand for property in the previously unfashionable West End of London following the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London, Pimlico had become ripe for development. In 1825, Thomas Cubitt was contracted by Lord Grosvenor to develop Pimlico. The land up to this time had been marshy but was reclaimed using soil excavated during the construction of St. Katherine's Dock.

Cubitt developed Pimlico in the form of a grid, with handsome white stucco terraces (sometimes with mews behind them) and large garden squares.

As early as the latter half of the century, however, Pimlico saw the construction of several Peabody Estates - charitable housing projects designed to provide affordable, quality homes. In addition, in the post-World War II period, several large public housing estates were built in the area - on land cleared by German bombing - and many of the fine Victorian houses were converted to other uses, such as hotels. This led to the area developing an interesting social mix, and an unusual character combining exclusive restaurants and residences with Westminster City Council run facilities. In 1950, embarrassed by the slums and brothels with which Pimlico had become associated in the press and criminal courts, the Second Duke of Westminster sold the part of the Grosvenor estate on which it is built.

Now, as in Central London in general, Pimlico property prices are high, and the area is again fashionable. A large number of houses have once again been repurposed, being divided into one or two bedroom flats intended for wealthy young professionals.

Notable buildings

The Tate Britain on Millbank. (November 2004).

Pimlico's most famous building is the Tate Britain on Millbank. Millbank is a ward independent of Pimlico. So the Tate is not on Millbank, it is in Millbank but has Pimlico underground station located close by. This is the original Tate Gallery and is home, as the name suggests, primarily to art of specifically British origin. (This rule is frequently broken, however.)

The district's association with fine art has been reinforced by the Chelsea College of Art and Design's recent move to the former Royal Army Medical College next to the Tate. This has also had the happy result of opening up the spacious college quadrangle so that the three extensive and elaborate red brick college blocks can be appreciated (see picture below).

Pimlico is also home, on its boundary with Belgravia, to the National Audit Office, which occupies the former headquarters of Imperial Airways on Buckingham Palace Road as well as the National Records of Statistics.

Hide Tower is a landmark building of 162 flats over twenty floors; built by Westminster City Council, completed 1962. Now 51% 'owned' by private leasees. Overlooking Vincent Square, to the west and the Houses of Parliament to the north east.

Notable residents

Chelsea College of Art and Design is situated in nearby Millbank

A street in Pimlico that characteristically mixes grand Victorian town-houses with 1970s council housing.

▪Gianluca Vialli

▪Laura Ashley, designer - 83 Cambridge Street

▪Aubrey Beardsley, illustrator - 114 Cambridge Street

▪James Crump, founder of St. Aubyn's School, Woodford Green - 86 Cambridge Street

▪Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, father of lawn tennis - 33 St George's Square

▪Laurence Olivier, actor - 22 Lupus Street

▪Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein

▪Barbara Pym, writer - 108 Cambridge Street

▪Steve Hackett, former Genesis guitarist

▪Wilfrid Brambell, actor, star of Steptoe and Son - Denbigh Street

▪Michael Howard, former leader of the Conservative Party

▪Douglas Macmillan, founder of cancer relief - Ranelagh Road[2]

▪Alex Salmond MP, MSP, First Minister of Scotland

▪Hugh Bayley MP, for York

▪Catherine Johnson, creator of the musical Mamma Mia!

▪Anthony Davis, comedian and broadcaster

In fiction

In Wilkie Collins' Armadale (1866), Pimlico is home to the conniving procuress Mother Oldershaw and the sly abortionist Doctor Downward. The address of their shady establishment is given as Diana Street, apparently fictional.

Post-World War II Pimlico was the setting of the story of the Ealing comedy Passport To Pimlico, as well as of the juvenile detective series The Pimlico Boys by Paul Dorval, and the online graphic novel The House in Pimlico.

Barbara Pym used St. Gabriel's Church, Warwick Square, as her inspiration for St. Mary's, an Anglo-Catholic church and the chosen place of worship of Mildred Lathbury, her narrator in Excellent Women. Mildred - unmarried, just over thirty and given to good works, finds herself naturally 'involved or interested in other people's business'. The arrival of exotic neighbours and an elegant widow at the vicarage brings scope for a carefully observed social comedy.

"I began to wonder what could have brought a naval officer and his wife to this shabby part of London, so very much the 'wrong' side of Victoria Station, so definitely not Belgravia, for which I had a sentimental affection, but which did not usually attract people who looked like Mrs Napier."

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (Jonathan Cape, London, 1952)

Maisie Dobbs (the title character of Jacqueline Winspear's mystery series set in post-World War I England) buys a flat in Pimlico in the third book.

Virginia Woolf makes passing reference to Pimlico in her novel Mrs Dalloway, using it to denote the colourful lower-class character of one of the poor people waiting outside Buckingham Palace to glimpse royalty: '[...] The Prince - ah! the Prince! who took wonderfully, they said, after old King Edward, but was ever so much slimmer. The Prince lived at St James's; but he might come along in the morning to visit his mother. So Sarah Bletchley said with her baby in her arms, tipping her foot up and down as though she were by her own fender in Pimlico.

The area is also (more obscurely), the home of the scheming Francis Urquhart, in Michael Dobbs' 1989 novel, House of Cards.

In Aldous Huxley's novel Point Counter Point, a fragment of a song appears: "To Pimlico then let us go/One verse omitted here."

In music

In 1764, a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his first symphony (K.16) whilst residing at the home of George Randal on Five Fields Row. A statue depicting Mozart now stands in Orange Square.

St. Barnabas Church, St Barnabas Street, Pimlico SW1W 8PF is the final resting place of the English composer Basil Harwood (1859–1949) who was organist there from 1883–1887. He is interred under a plaque inlaid in the floor of the aisle.

The Small Faces London base in 1965/1966 was at 22 Westmoreland Terrace where they wrote many of their songs including "Lazy Sunday"[3]

The Clash also did warm up sessions and preparation for the album "London Calling" in 1979 at the long gone Vanilla Studios which used to be at 36 Causton Street. They were often seen playing football at the concrete football pitch across the road. More of these recordings would have been actively used but it was long thought they lost most of the Vanilla sessions master recording on the tube. Mick Jones subsequently found these 25 years later after a house move. The Vanilla studio was refurbished into a pottery barn - the building has recently been demolished and the street renumbered. {{The Clash - A Riot of Our Own, P.156 Pat Gilbert - Passion is a Fashion 2004 ISBN 1845130170 )}

David Devant & His Spirit Wife named their first single after Pimlico.

Experimental rock group The Fiery Furnaces briefly mention Pimlico in the song "Borneo," on their 2004 record Bitter Tea.

Pimlico SW1

Pimlico offers a stylish, central location for those who don't wish to pay Belgravia prices. Flats and apartments dominate with family homes. Tall white stucco buildings offer grand accommodation. Ex-council blocks line the river next to Dolphin Square, which are rapidly changing to plush new portered developments.

A few streets are busy through-routes, yet a vigorously enforced traffic scheme ensures that the majority enjoy a quiet life.

Until the late 17th or early 18th century, Pimlico was known as Ebury or "The Five Fields". According to tradition, it received its name from Ben Pimlico, famous for his nut-brown ale. The name may also derive from a Spanish word for drink.

Millbank Prison (1816-1880) was the spot from which prisoners were transported to Australia.

By the 19th century, and as a result of an increase in demand for property in the previously unfashionable West end of London following the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, Pimlico had become ripe for development. Thomas Cubitt was contracted to develop Pimlico in 1825.

As early as the latter half of the century, however, Pimlico saw the construction of several ‘Peabody Estates’ charitable housing projects designed to provide cheap, quality homes for the poor. In addition, in the post war period, several large public housing estates were built in the area on land cleared by bombing. Many of the fine Victorian houses were converted into bed and breakfasts and hotels.

In 1950, embarrassed by the slums and brothels with which Pimlico had become associated in the press and criminal courts, the Second Duke of Westminster sold the part of the Grosvenor estate on which it is built.

Travel Links To Pimlico

Pimlico (Victoria Line)

Vauxhall Railway Station

Motorway Junction M4 Junction 1

Airport London City

Primary Schools in Pimlico

Burdett Coutts CE Primary School

Rochester Street, Pimlico, London, SW1P 2QQ
Tel: 020 7641 5930 Fax: 020 7641 6386

Churchill Gardens Primary School

Ranelagh Road, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3EU
Tel: 020 7641 5935/5991 Fax: 020 7641 6388

Millbank Primary School
Erasmus Street, Pimlico, London, SW1P 4HR
Tel: 020 7641 5945 Fax: 020 7641 5946

St Barnabas CE Primary School

St Barnabas Street, Pimlico, London, SW1W 8PF
Tel: 020 7641 4232 Fax: 020 7641 4229

St Gabriel’s CE Primary School

Churchill Gardens, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3AG
Tel: 020 7641 6300 Fax: 020 7641 6334

St Matthews CE Primary School

16-18 Old Pye Street, Pimlico, London, SW1P 2DG
Tel: 020 7641 5110 Fax: 020 7641 5110

St Peter’s Eaton Square CE School

Lower Belgrave Street, Pimlico, London, SW1W ONL
Tel: 020 7641 4230 Fax: 020 7641 4235

St Vincent De Paul RC School

Morpeth Terrace, Pimlico, London, SW1P 1EP
Tel: 020 7641 5990 Fax: 020 7641 5901

Westminster Cathedral RC School

Bessborough Place, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3SE
Tel: 020 7641 5915 Fax: 020 7641 6384

Secondary Schools in Pimlico

Greycoat Hospital

St Andrews Building, Grey Coat Place, Pimlico, London, SW1P 2DY
Tel: 020 7969 1998 Fax: 020 7828 2697 / 020 7592 9633

Pimlico School

Lupus Street, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3AT
Tel: 020 - 7828 0881 Fax: 020 - 7931 0549

Westminster City School

55 Palace Street, Pimlico, London, SW1E 5HJ
Tel: 020 7641 8760 Fax: 020 7641 8761

Libraries in Pimlico

Pimlico Library

Rampayne St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2PU
Tel: 020 7641 2983

Pimlico Toy Library

133a, Lupus St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3EN
Tel: 020 7834 3356

Doctors In Pimlico

The Cambridge St Surgery

93, Cambridge St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 4PY
Tel: 020 7834 5502

Dr Munday & Partners

The Westminster Health Centre, 15, Denbigh St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2HF
Tel: 020 7834 6969

Dr H Mostad

141-143, Lupus St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3HQ
Tel: 020 7828 9252

Victoria Medical Centre

7, Longmoore St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1JH
Tel: 0844 4778740

Dentists In Pimlico

Mr R.D McKennell & Associates

21, Churton St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2LY
Tel: 020 7834 8802

Pimlico Dental Care

124, Regency St, Pimlico, London, SW1P 4AP
Tel: 020 7233 5600

Millbank Dental Care

42, Ponsonby Place, Pimlico, London, SW1P 4PR
Tel: 020 7828 7676

The Wilton Dental Practice

63a, Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1DE
Tel: 020 7834 6361

Victoria Dental Practice

27-29, Warwick Way, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1QT
Tel: 020 7630 0782

Pubs, Bars, Cafés And Restaurants In Pimlico

The Jugged Hare

172, Vauxhall Bridge Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1DX
Tel: 020 7828 1543

White Ferry House

1a, Sutherland St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 4LD
Tel: 020 7834 3960

The Elusive Camel

27, Gillingham St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1HP
Tel: 020 7233 9004

The Spread Eagle

79, Grosvenor Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3LA
Tel: 020 7821 8786

The Lord Burleigh

250, Vauxhall Bridge Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1AU
Tel: 020 7834 0553

Marquis Of Westminster

50, Warwick Way, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1RY
Tel: 020 7834 4339

J.D Wetherspoon

Unit 5, Victoria Island, Victoria Station, Victoria, London, SW1V 1JT
Tel: 020 7931 0445

The Gallery

1, Lupus St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3AS
Tel: 020 7821 7573

Surprise

110, Vauxhall Bridge Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2RQ
Tel: 020 7828 5322

The White Swan

14, Vauxhall Bridge Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2SA
Tel: 020 7821 8568

Allium

within Dolphin Square Hotel, Dolphin Square, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3LX
Tel: 020 7798 6888

About Thyme

82, Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1DL
Tel: 020 7821 7504

Garfunkel's Restaurant plc

Victoria Place, Victoria Station, London, SW1V 1JT
Tel: 020 7630 5991

Sole Mio (Uno) Ristorante Italiano

35, Belgrave Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2BB
Tel: 020 7828 3613

Pimlico Tandoori Indian Restaurant

38, Moreton St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2PB
Tel: 020 7834 3375

Mekong Vietnamese & Oriental Restaurant

46, Churton St, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2LP
Tel: 020 7630 9568

Kazan

93-94, Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1DW
Tel: 020 7233 7100

New England Hotel

20, St. Georges Drive, Pimlico, London, SW1V 4BN
Tel: 020 7834 8351

Chop Stix Xchange

73, Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1DE
Tel: 020 7630 8781

Victoria Thai Restaurant

322, Vauxhall Bridge Rd, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1AA

Tel: 020 7931 0935