Victoria Square is a small,[a] rectangular garden squareinWestminster, Greater London, beginning some 50 metres south of the remaining stables of the Royal Mews (on the large green block taken up by Buckingham Palace) and 150 metres north of Victoria bus station, which stands in front of Victoria Station. It has a statue of the young Queen Victoria.
The main wing of the Goring Hotel separates the square from an almost identical-size space between buildings, as private gardens for the hotel. This is backed by one road, not four roads with parking and sets of pavements.
Most of the Victoria and Belgravia area is part of the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Estate as to minor, overarching legal interests, especially the open spaces and the valuable freehold of shops. This square is such an instance, which has a lasting influence on local planning policy. However, most of the freeholds have been sold, sometimes facilitated by leasehold reform under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967.
Fronting the square are 26 houses, which are all Grade II* listed which is the second tier (and so second-rarest) of the pyramidal-hierarchy protection and recognition system. These are five-storey stucco-fronted properties designed by architect Sir Matthew Wyatt (1805–1886), a member of the Wyatt family — son of sculptor Matthew Cotes Wyatt and the grandson of James Wyatt;[1] seeing them built in 1838–40[2] to celebrate the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign.
Most of the houses fronting are now held as freeholds, the residual interest in their leases (reversions) having been bought from the Grosvenor Estate. Protection of planning law of character in this zone has been strengthened to preserve the appearance of Belgravia.[b]
The private gardens were in the 2000s decade renovated; for which residents gave between £100,000 and £1M in total. A statue of the young Queen Victoria by the artist Catherine Anne Laugel was specially commissioned then installed, in 2007.[citation needed]
In 1991, the square was used for the filming of the Merchant Ivory Productions adaptation Howards End.[6]
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