Bloomsbury Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy Adopted 18 April 2011 i) CONTENTS PART 1: CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 0 Purpose of the Appraisal ............................................................................................................ 2 Designation................................................................................................................................. 3 2.0 PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT ................................................................................................ 4 3.0 SUMMARY OF SPECIAL INTEREST........................................................................................ 5 Context and Evolution................................................................................................................ 5 Spatial Character and Views ...................................................................................................... 6 Building Typology and Form....................................................................................................... 8 Prevalent and Traditional Building Materials ............................................................................ 10 Characteristic Details................................................................................................................ 10 Landscape and Public Realm................................................................................................... 11 4.0 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 12 Overview................................................................................................................................... 12 Before 1660 .............................................................................................................................. 12 1660-1750................................................................................................................................. 13 1750- 1830................................................................................................................................ 14 1830- 1900................................................................................................................................ 15 1900- 1940................................................................................................................................ 17 1940- present day..................................................................................................................... 18 5.0 CHARACTER ANALYSIS........................................................................................................ 20 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 20 Sub Area 1: Euston Road........................................................................................................ 21 Sub Area 2: Gordon Square/Woburn Square/Byng Place ....................................................... 22 Sub Area 3: University of London/British Museum................................................................... 27 Sub Area 4: Grafton Way/Alfred Place/Tottenham Court Road ............................................... 34 Sub Area 5: Bedford Square/Gower Street .............................................................................. 38 Sub Area 6: Bloomsbury Square/Russell Square/Tavistock Square ....................................... 43 Sub Area 7: Museum Street/Great Russell Street.................................................................... 51 Sub Area 8: New Oxford Street/High Holborn/Southampton Row ........................................... 57 Sub Area 9: Lincoln’s Inn Fields/Inns of Court/High Holborn .................................................. 64 Sub Area 10: Great James Street/Bedford Row ..................................................................... 75 Sub Area 11: Queen Square/Red Lion Square ....................................................................... 80 Sub Area 12: Coram’s Fields/Brunswick Centre ..................................................................... 88 Sub Area 13: Cartwright Gardens/Argyle Square ................................................................... 92 Sub Area 14: Calthorpe Street/Frederick Street...................................................................... 99 7.0 AUDIT..................................................................................................................................... 104 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 104 APPENDICES TO PART 1 Appendix 1: Historic Maps Appendix 2: The Conservation Area Boundary and Constituent Sub Areas Appendix 3: Built Heritage Audit (by sub area) Appendix 4: Built Heritage Audit Plans (by sub area) LON\NEW Bloomsbury Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy Adopted draft 18 April 2011 0 i) PART 2: MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 104 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 107 2.0 MONITORING AND REVIEW ................................................................................................ 108 Monitoring ............................................................................................................................... 108 Review .................................................................................................................................... 108 3.0 MAINTAINING CHARACTER................................................................................................ 109 General Approach................................................................................................................... 109 Policy and Legislation............................................................................................................. 109 8.0 BOUNDARY CHANGES CONSIDERED............................................................................... 111 Adjustments to Conservation Area Boundaries...................................................................... 111 Extensions to the Bloomsbury Conservation Area ................................................................. 111 4.0 MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE............................................................................................... 116 Current Issues ........................................................................................................................ 116 Investment and Maintenance ................................................................................................. 118 Listed Buildings....................................................................................................................... 118 Unlisted Buildings ................................................................................................................... 120 Demolition............................................................................................................................... 120 Control over New Development.............................................................................................. 121 Control of Advertisements ...................................................................................................... 124 Development Briefs and Design Guidance............................................................................. 124 Potential Enhancement Schemes/Programmes..................................................................... 125 Public Realm........................................................................................................................... 125 Promoting design quality ........................................................................................................ 127 Enforcement ........................................................................................................................... 127 Resources............................................................................................................................... 128 APPENDIX TO PART 2 Appendix 5: Amendments to the Boundary Considered LON\NEW Bloomsbury Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy Adopted draft 18 April 2011 1 i) 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Bloomsbury Conservation Area covers an area of approximately 160 hectares extending from Euston Road in the north to High Holborn and Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the south and from Tottenham Court Road in the west to King’s Cross Road in the east. 1.2 Bloomsbury is widely considered to be an internationally significant example of town planning. The original street layouts, which employed the concept of formal landscaped squares and an interrelated grid of streets to create an attractive residential environment, remain a dominant characteristic of the area. Despite Bloomsbury’s size and varying ownerships, its expansion northwards from roughly 1660 to 1840 has led to a notable consistency in the street pattern, spatial character and predominant building forms. Today, the area’s underlying townscape combined with the influence of the major institutional uses that established in the district and expanded over time is evident across the large parts of the Conservation Area. Some patterns