Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square ist a Metonym für die Botschaft der Vereinigten Staaten in London.
Grosvenor Square (sprich: "Grove-ner Square") ist ein großer Platz mit Grünanlage im exklusiven Mayfair-Viertel von London. Er ist der Mittelpunkt des Mayfair-Grundbesitzes der Dukes of Westminster und ist nach ihrem Nachnamen "Grosvenor" benannt.
Geschichte
Sir Richard Grosvenor erhielt 1710 eine Genehmigung, den Grosvenor Square und die angrenzende Straßen zu entwickeln, and development is believed to have commenced in around 1721. Grosvenor Square war von Anfang an eine der begehrtesten Wohnadressen in London; bis zum 2. Weltkrieg lebten dort zahlreiche führende Mitglieder des Adels.
Die frühen Gebäude hatten im allgemeinen fünf oder sieben Joche, Keller, drei Geschosse und einen Dachboden. Some attempt was made to produce impressive groupings of houses, and Colen Campbell produced a design for a palatial east side to the square featuring thirty Corinthian columns but this was not carried out and in the end most of the houses were built to individual designs. There were mews behind all four sides.
Many of the houses were rebuilt later in the 18th century or during the 19th century, generally acquiring an extra storey when this happened. Number 26 was rebuilt in 1773-74 for the 11th Earl of Derby by Robert Adam, and is regarded as one of the architect's finest works and as a seminal example of how grandeur of effect and sophisticated planning might be achieved on a confined site. It was demolished and rebuilt again in the 1860s.
The central garden, which was originally reserved for the use of the occupants of the houses as was standard in a London square, is now a public park managed by The Royal Parks. Nearly all of the houses were demolished during the 20th century and replaced with blocks of flats in a neo-Georgian style, hotels and embassies. Access to the western side of the square is severely restricted by the very obvious security measures around the U.S. Embassy.
Amerikanische Präsenz
Die ehemalige amerikanische Botschaft von 1938–1960 am Platz wurde von der kanadischen Regierung gekauft und in Macdonald House umbenannt, und ist Teil der Diplomatischen Vertretung Kanadas in London.
Die westliche Seite des Grosvenor Square nimmt nun die amerikanische Botschaft ein, ein großer und architektonisch bedeutender Entwurf von Eero Saarinen, fertiggestellt 1960. It is, however, a controversial insertion into a mainly georgianische Architektur and neo-Georgian district of London. Since 2001, a series of anti-terrorist devices have been installed around the embassy, and the road running along the front of the embassy has been closed completely to traffic. Residents living close to the embassy say the British government and police are endangering their lives by failing to adequately protect the embassy area from terrorist attacks. In 2006, the Grosvenor Square Safety Group residents association took out advertisements in The Washington Post and The Times, accusing the Metropolitan Police and local governments of a "moral failure" for not closing two roads adjacent to the embassy.
Grosvenor Square ist traditionell der Ort der offiziellen amerikanischen Vertretung in London seit Präsident John Adams 1785 die erste amerikanische Mission am britischen Königshof eingerichtet hat. During the Second World War, Dwight D. Eisenhower established a military headquarters at 20 Grosvenor Square, and during this time the square was nicknamed "Eisenhower Platz". The United States Navy continues to use this same building as its headquarters for Europe and West Africa.
A statue of Franklin D. Roosevelt, sculpted by Sir William Reid Dick, stands in the square, as does a later statue of Eisenhower, sculpted by Robert Lee Dean.
Four of the Bentley Boys - Woolf Barnato, Tim Birkin, Glen Kidston and Bernard Rubin - took adjacent flats in the fasionable south-east corner of the square, where their day-long parties became something of social legend. So common was the sight of their large, green sports cars parked ad hoc outside their flats, that for many years London cab drivers referred to the spot as "Bentley Corner".
Offenbar gibt es Pläne für einen Neubau und Umzug der US-Botschaft.[1]
References
- John Summerson: Georgian London. Yale University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-300-08988-2.
- Gear Wheels: The online motoring magazine: Bentley Boys. Abgerufen am 13. Februar 2007. "the bambalmerristocrats.co.uk/
See also
External links
- Grosvenor Square, Mayfair London
- Introductory page from the Survey of London - the subsequent pages cover the past and present buildings in great detail.
[[:Kategorie:Platz in London]] [[Kategorie:Diplomatenviertel]]