London (Fodor's 2012) - Fodor's [33]
WORTH NOTING
Berkeley Square.
As anyone who’s heard the old song knows, the name rhymes with “starkly.” Not many of its original mid-18th-century houses are left, but look at Nos. 42–46 (especially No. 44, now an exclusive casino, which the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner thought London’s finest terraced house) and Nos. 49–52 to get some idea of why it was once London’s top address—not that it’s in the least humble now. Private members’ nightclub Annabel’s is one current resident. | Berkeley Sq., Mayfair | W1K | Bond St.
Grosvenor Square.
Once a private square and damaged in WWII, leafy Grosvenor Square (pronounced Grove-na) was laid out in 1725–31. It is as desirable an address today as it was then. Americans certainly thought so—from John Adams, the second president, who as ambassador lived at No. 38, to Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose wartime headquarters was at No. 20. Now the massive 1960s block of the U.S. Embassy occupies the entire west side, and a British memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt stands in the center. There is also a classically styled memorial to those who died in New York on September 11, 2001.The little brick chapel used by Eisenhower’s men during World War II, the 1730 Grosvenor Chapel, stands a couple of blocks south of the square on South Audley Street, with the entrance to pretty St. George’s Gardens to its left. Across the gardens is the headquarters of the English Jesuits as well as the society-wedding favorite, the mid-19th-century Church of the Immaculate Conception, known as Farm Street Church because of its location. A Barclays Cycle Hire docking station is immediately northeast of the square. | Mayfair | W1K | Bond St.
Handel House Museum.
The former home of the composer, where he lived for more than 30 years until his death in 1759, is a celebration of his genius. It’s the first museum in London solely dedicated to one composer, and that is made much of with room settings in the contemporary fine Georgian style. You can linger over original manuscripts (there are more to be seen in the British Library) and gaze at portraits—accompanied by live music if the adjoining music rooms are being used by musicians in rehearsal. Some of the composer’s most famous pieces were created here, including Messiah and Music for the Royal Fireworks. To hear a live concert here—there are Thursday evening performances, mostly of baroque music—is to imagine the atmosphere of rehearsals and “salon” music in its day. Handel House makes a perfect cultural pit stop after shopping on nearby Bond and Oxford streets, and if you come on Saturday, there is free admission for kids. The museum occupies both No. 25 and the adjoining house, where life in Georgian London is displayed, and where another musical star, Jimi Hendrix, lived for a brief time in the 1960s, as a blue plaque outside the house indicates—also look for the petite exhibition of photos. Tours of his flat, currently administrative offices and not usually open to the public, are offered twice a year. Phone or check the Web site for details. | 25 Brook St., entrance in Lancashire Court, Mayfair | W1K 4HB | 020/7495–1685 | www.handelhouse.org | £5 | Tues.–Sat. 10–6, Thurs. until 8, Sun. noon–6 | Bond St.
Spencer House.
Ancestral abode of the Spencers—Diana, Princess of Wales’s family—this is perhaps the finest example of an elegant 18th-century town house extant in London. Reflecting his passion for the Grand Tour and classical antiquities, the first Earl Spencer commissioned architect John Vardy to adapt designs from ancient Rome for a magnificent private palace. Vardy was responsible for the external elevation, including the gorgeous west-facing Palladian facade, its pediment adorned with classical statues, and the ground-floor interiors, notably the