Fitzroy Square

Fitzroy Square is the only Georgian square in Fitzrovia, an area otherwise dominated by Victorian fabric. Its south and east sides were built from 1792 to designs by Robert Adam, whose Portland-stone facades with delicate pilasters and friezes still define the scene. In the 19th and early 20th centuries residents included George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf, giving the square its enduring literary cachet. The oval centre was pedestrianised in 1972 and now holds a modern sculpture by Naomi Blake. Today the square is a quiet pivot between Oxford Street and Euston Road, a perfect pause under the plane trees.