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Oxford Circus
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Oxford Circus
Oxford Circus is a road junction connecting Oxford Street and Regent Street in the West End of London. It is also the entrance to Oxford Circus tube station.
The junction opened in 1819 as part of the Regent Street development under John Nash, and was originally known as Regent Circus North. After the original lease expired, it was redesigned around a series of four quadrant buildings by Henry Tanner between 1913 and 1928, the north-eastern of which has been used by Peter Robinson, Topshop, the BBC and the London Co-operative Society; these are now Grade II listed buildings.
Oxford Circus remains a busy junction for traffic, and a £5 million upgrade for pedestrians opened in 2009. It has also attracted attention as a place for demonstrations and protests, including several by Extinction Rebellion.
The junction was designed as part of John Nash's work on Regent Street. Circuses had become popular in English architecture after George Dance the Younger had popularised them in the Minories in East London. Nash wanted to use extra land space so that vehicles could move around one another when turning, with a concave layout attracting shopkeepers and increasing the potential for land value. He originally intended the circus to be colonnaded, but when the New Street Bill was proposed to parliament, it was rejected, with one MP fearing the circus would "be a nuisance by day and something worse by night". He redesigned the circus so that the new Regent Street would meet the established Oxford Street at a near right-angle, with a smaller 164-foot (50 m) diameter reducing its land intake. Parliament approved the design, passing the New Street Act 1813 (53 Geo. 3. c. 121).
Construction of the circus began in 1816, with Nash working in association with Samuel Baxter. Work was complicated by the compulsory purchase of properties along Oxford Street. Eight houses on the north side and eleven on the south were demolished to make way for the junction. To avoid legal challenges, Nash attempted to rehouse existing tenants in the new buildings around the circus wherever possible. After John Richardson, proprietor of Richardson's silk shop on 118 Oxford Street died, Nash ensured his widow and surviving family and employees were all housed in a building on the circus's north-eastern section. After the family complained and demanded changes, Nash worked with Baxter to try to accommodate them as much as possible.
Most buildings around the circus were designed in a more disciplined manner than some of Nash's later work, and were based on Palladian architecture. They featured fluted Corinthian pilasters and artificial stone capitals. The pilaster order continued down Regent Street.
The circus opened officially in November 1819. It was originally known as Regent Circus North, with the corresponding Piccadilly Circus named Regent Circus South. However, unlike Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus had no decorations and was designed as a straightforward traffic crossing. Fellow architect James Elmes described Nash's work on the circus as giving "an air of grandeur" and "as elegant in form as it is useful in application". The current name began to be used around 1836.
In 1842, the MP Joseph Hume proposed a commemorative obelisk should be constructed in the middle of the circus. Construction began in December 1842, but was quickly disrupted and abandoned after the Marylebone parish vestry realised they only had authority to clean and maintain the circus, and not to construct anything on top of it. The obelisk was eventually built in 1850 at Nunhead Cemetery to a slightly different design.
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Oxford Circus
Oxford Circus is a road junction connecting Oxford Street and Regent Street in the West End of London. It is also the entrance to Oxford Circus tube station.
The junction opened in 1819 as part of the Regent Street development under John Nash, and was originally known as Regent Circus North. After the original lease expired, it was redesigned around a series of four quadrant buildings by Henry Tanner between 1913 and 1928, the north-eastern of which has been used by Peter Robinson, Topshop, the BBC and the London Co-operative Society; these are now Grade II listed buildings.
Oxford Circus remains a busy junction for traffic, and a £5 million upgrade for pedestrians opened in 2009. It has also attracted attention as a place for demonstrations and protests, including several by Extinction Rebellion.
The junction was designed as part of John Nash's work on Regent Street. Circuses had become popular in English architecture after George Dance the Younger had popularised them in the Minories in East London. Nash wanted to use extra land space so that vehicles could move around one another when turning, with a concave layout attracting shopkeepers and increasing the potential for land value. He originally intended the circus to be colonnaded, but when the New Street Bill was proposed to parliament, it was rejected, with one MP fearing the circus would "be a nuisance by day and something worse by night". He redesigned the circus so that the new Regent Street would meet the established Oxford Street at a near right-angle, with a smaller 164-foot (50 m) diameter reducing its land intake. Parliament approved the design, passing the New Street Act 1813 (53 Geo. 3. c. 121).
Construction of the circus began in 1816, with Nash working in association with Samuel Baxter. Work was complicated by the compulsory purchase of properties along Oxford Street. Eight houses on the north side and eleven on the south were demolished to make way for the junction. To avoid legal challenges, Nash attempted to rehouse existing tenants in the new buildings around the circus wherever possible. After John Richardson, proprietor of Richardson's silk shop on 118 Oxford Street died, Nash ensured his widow and surviving family and employees were all housed in a building on the circus's north-eastern section. After the family complained and demanded changes, Nash worked with Baxter to try to accommodate them as much as possible.
Most buildings around the circus were designed in a more disciplined manner than some of Nash's later work, and were based on Palladian architecture. They featured fluted Corinthian pilasters and artificial stone capitals. The pilaster order continued down Regent Street.
The circus opened officially in November 1819. It was originally known as Regent Circus North, with the corresponding Piccadilly Circus named Regent Circus South. However, unlike Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus had no decorations and was designed as a straightforward traffic crossing. Fellow architect James Elmes described Nash's work on the circus as giving "an air of grandeur" and "as elegant in form as it is useful in application". The current name began to be used around 1836.
In 1842, the MP Joseph Hume proposed a commemorative obelisk should be constructed in the middle of the circus. Construction began in December 1842, but was quickly disrupted and abandoned after the Marylebone parish vestry realised they only had authority to clean and maintain the circus, and not to construct anything on top of it. The obelisk was eventually built in 1850 at Nunhead Cemetery to a slightly different design.
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