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lavish Palm Room, which boasts a spectacular screen of columns covered in gilded carvings that resemble gold palm trees. The purpose of the bling-tastic decor was not only to attest to Spencer’s power and wealth but also to celebrate his marriage, a love match then rare in aristocratic circles (the palms are a symbol of marital fertility). Midway through construction—the house was built between 1756 and 1766—Spencer changed architects and hired James “Athenian” Stuart, whose designs were based on a classical Greek aesthetic, to decorate the gilded State Rooms on the first floor. These include the Painted Room, the first completely neoclassical room in Europe. In recent years the house was superlatively restored by Lord Rothschild (to impress close friend, Princess Diana, but in 2010 the Spencer family scandalously decided to sell off all the house’s best furnishings and paintings at Christie’s so that today’s viewers now get to see a decidedly denuded house. The garden, of Henry Holland design, has also been replanted in the 18th- and 19th-century fashion. The house is open only on Sunday (closed January and August), and only to guided tours. The garden is open some Sundays in summer. Check the Web site for details. | 27 St. James’s Pl., St. James’s | SW1A 1NR | 020/7499–8620 | www.spencerhouse.co.uk | £9 | Sept.–Dec. and Feb.–July, Sun. 10:30–5:45, last tour 4:45; tour leaves approx. every 25 mins; tickets on sale Sun. at 10:30 | Green Park.

St. James’s Square.

One of London’s oldest and leafiest squares was also the most snobbish address of all when it was laid out around 1670, with 14 resident dukes and earls installed by 1720. Since 1841, No. 14—one of the several 18th-century residences spared by World War II bombs—has housed the London Library, founded by Thomas Carlyle. With its million or so volumes, this is the world’s largest independent lending library and is also considered the best private humanities library in the land. The workplace of literary luminaries from T.S. Eliot to Bruce Chatwin, Kingsley Amis, Winston Churchill, John Betjeman, and Charles Dickens, the library invited you to read famous authors’ complaints in the comments book—but you’ll need a £10 day or £30 week membership to peruse the collection (bring ID and proof of address). Other notable institutions around the square include the East India Club at No. 16, the Naval and Military Club (known as the “In and Out” after the signage on its gateposts) at No. 4, as well as Chatham House, a think-tank on international affairs. A small epitaph to WPC Yvonne Fletcher—shot by a Libyan gunman—can be found on the sidewalk around the square. | St. James’s | SW1Y 4LE | www.londonlibrary.co.uk | Mon.–Wed. 9:30–7:30, Thurs.–Sat. 9:30–5:30, closed Sun. | Piccadilly Circus.

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Getting Oriented | A Brief History | Top Attractions | Worth Noting

Updated by Astrid deRidder

Once a red-light district, today’s Soho delivers more “grown-up” than “adult” entertainment, offering some of London’s best nightclubs, live music venues, restaurants, and theaters. By day, this hotbed of media production reverts to the business side of its late-night scene. If Soho is all about showbiz, neighboring Covent Garden—once the stomping grounds of My Fair Lady’s Eliza Dolittle (before Henry Higgins’s make-over) and landmark home to the Royal Opera House and Courtauld Institute Gallery—is devoted to culture. Both offer an abundance of narrow streets packed with one-of-a-kind shops and lots of character.

The narrow, winding streets of Soho lie to the east of Regent Street and to the south of Oxford Street. To the west of Wardour Street there are lots of interesting boutiques around Foubert’s Place and on Brewer and Lexington streets, which also boast some of London’s best-value restaurants. To the east of Wardour Street is nightlife central. At its southern end is gay mecca Old Compton Street and beyond that Shaftesbury Avenue, London’s equivalent of