Albemarle Street, London

Albemarle Street is a street in Mayfair, in the City of Westminster, London. As with many of the streets in the area, Albemarle Street is a one-way street. It starts at Piccadilly and ends at Grafton St.

Albemarle Street goes back to the 17th century. It was developed by a group of developers headed by Sir Thomas Bond. There was a mansion here at the Piccadilly end of the street called Clarendon House. The developers purchased it in 1683 and had it demolished to make way for the street. They laid the street from Piccadilly and onwards into what was then open fields. The same group of developers also created Bond Street to the east of Albemarle St, and Dover Street to the west.

Perhaps the most significant landmark on Albemarle Street is the Royal Institution of Great Britain. When Samuel Taylor Coleridge gave a series of lectures there, it received such a popular response from the public that people coming up Albemarle St on their horse carriages soon created a congestion. This prompted the city to make Albemarle St the first one-way street in London.

Another landmark of Albemarle Street is the Albemarle Club, which relocated to Dover Street before it eventually closed. The site of that club is today occupied by the Dolada restaurant.

Map of Albemarle Street, London

Walking Tour of Albemarle Street

Now let's take a walk down Albemarle St. Please feel free to print out this article and bring it with you as you take your walk. We shall start at Piccadilly and make our way heading northwest down the street.

At the very junction of Albemarle St with Piccadilly is a handsome brown-stone edifice occupied by Essie Carpets. Across the road from Essie Carpets is a branch of NatWest Bank. Two doors down from the bank is the first art gallery along the street, Albemarle Gallery, next to a newsagent, Ryman.

Farther down the road, we pass another art gallery, Marlborough Fine Arts, on our right, housed in a grey four-storey buiding. Next comes Kaya, a Korean restaurant with a karaoke club. It is next door to the office of Thai Airways. Across from the airline office is a pub, The King's Head.

Albemarle St intersects with Stafford Street here. At the corner on the left is Pret A Manger, a cafe, while on the right is Paul Smith, a shop specializing in furniture, art objects and curios. Further down, there's an Italian cafe, Ristorante Europe, on the left, with an Italian pastry shop, Nani's, next to it.

The Royal Arcade is at 12 Albemarle St. The arcade runs from Albemarle St all the way to Bond St. Continuing down Albemarlet St., we pass Browns Hotel on our left. It is a five-storey structure that dominates the left side of Albemarle St. Chor Bizarre, a restaurant specializing in Indian cuisine, is on the right, across from the hotel. A short distance away, on the same side of the street, is yet another art gallery, W.H. Patterson.

The stately columns of the Royal Institution of Great Britain line the right side of Albemarle Street. Albemarle St comes to an end when it meets Grafton Street.

More streets in London

To explore more streets across the capital, visit our Streets in London page, where you'll find an interactive map and a growing list of all the streets we've documented so far.

Map of Streets in London

View all the streets that I have documented on Google Maps in this Map of Streets in London.