Bedford Square

The north side of Bedford Square

Bedford Square is a square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England.

It was built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, and has had many distinguished residents, including Lord Eldon, one of Britain's longest serving and most celebrated Lord Chancellors, who lived in the largest house in the square for many years. The square takes its name from the main title of the Russell family, the Dukes of Bedford, who were the main landlords in Bloomsbury.

Bedford Square is one of the best preserved set pieces of Georgian architecture in London, but most of the houses have now been converted into offices. Numbers 1-10, 11, 12–27, 28–38 and 40–54 are grade I listed buildings. The central garden remains private.

Current occupants include:

Nos. 1 and 2: Cameron Mackintosh's London Offices.
No. 6: New York University's NYU in London Academic Facility.
No. 16: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
No. 19: Morse Plc
No. 25: InferMed Ltd
No. 29: London office of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

No. 36: Architectural Association School of Architecture.
Nos. 8, 9, 49, 50 and 51: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Former occupants

No. 6: Lord Eldon — Lord Chancellor
No. 11: Henry Cavendish — scientist
No. 13: Harry Ricardo — engine designer — born here
No. 22: Johnston Forbes-Robertson — actor
No. 35: Thomas Hodgkin — physician, reformer and philanthropist
No. 35: Thomas Wakley — founder of The Lancet
No. 41: William Butterfield — architect
No. 41: Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins — novelist
No. 44: Margot Asquith — wife of the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith
No. 48: Elizabeth Jesser Reid — anti-slavery activist and founder of Bedford College for Women
No. 49: Ram Mohun Roy — Indian scholar and reformer