Add a review about Park Lane Street in London

Park Lane Street - a symbol of aristocracy, power and money - retained its positions until the 1960s. the last century, until it turned into a big automobile road. But its glory was so great that it is still remembered and is unlikely to disappear as long as mankind reads classical English literature.

Almost four centuries Park Lane was the embodiment of a combination of enormous power and the same huge money, in England there was even a nominal term "The address on Park Lane" - that's how they talked about a very rich man.

History

Once upon a time there was a small quiet village, then a field by the forest, and then King Henry VIII moved the royal court from the Tower in Westminster, having built a courtyard there ts, and a quiet place at once turned into the epicenter of the palace life.

After moving the palace to Westminster, the king gave the surrounding land for building the most eminent courtiers, while keeping Hyde Park untouched - for hunting. So it turned out that Park Lane is located near the palace and near a quiet large park, which instantly made it the most expensive street in the city.

Until the last century Park Lane was considered to be the most upscale address in London - only the royal palace. There lived only an aristocracy - a duke like that, a sort of earl, and it was impossible to buy a house: they were 300 years old, since the time of King Henry, they belonged to one family, rich enough not to sell something that it will not be possible to buy later.

Almost four centuries Park Lane was the embodiment of a combination of enormous power and the same huge money, and even there was a common notion of "address on Park Lane" - as they said about a very rich man.

Modern Park Lane

The situation changed in time of war, when German pilots almost completely destroyed the street by bombing. The destruction was very large, so many aristocratic families sold their lands after the war with the collapsed house out of reluctance to lead and pay for such a large construction. Finally, everything changed in 1960, when a part of the city road ring was built through Park Lane, which turned a quiet street into a six-lane and very noisy motorway.

It was not too pleasant to live there - noisy and gas-contaminated, so now on Park- Lane has almost no residential buildings, only shops and hotels. The place is very famous and expensive, therefore the hotels are exclusively five-star, and the stores are designed for a very high level of income (racing cars and stuff like that.)

Although the street now consists of hotels and new buildings, there are still several reasons. Firstly, Park Lane is located along a large and beautiful park, where it is pleasant to walk. Secondly, it connects two tourist streets - shopping Oxford Street with Piccadilly. Finally, Park Lane is mentioned in a huge number of literary works: it was written about by Oscar Wilde, Thackeray, Conan Doyle, Wodehouse, Agatha Christie and many others.

Attractions

At the intersection between Park Lane and Oxford Street located Marble Arch - a marble triumphal arch built in 1827 by the famous architect John Nash as the decoration of the front entrance to Buckingham Palace. She was moved here later - when she began to interfere with the traffic.

Next to the arch, but in the park is Speakers' Corner - "Corner speaker" in which every citizen can express any idea. Conditions two - to rise to the top and not to contradict the anti-criminal legislation (that is, for murders, for example, it is impossible to agitate, but in general this rule is new and appeared only at the end of the last century.)

They say that before the advent of the Internet this was an interesting place , especially on Saturdays, but now there are few people who want to shout in the street before a dozen random passers-by, if they can speak on the Internet and get an interested audience of a couple of million people. But the place is very famous, one of the personifications of English "freedom of speech."

Park Lane and neighboring streets

Practical information

Two subway stations, Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner, are located at Park Lane, they are located at opposite ends of the street.

Around Park Lane

This is the historical part of London, so there are a lot of attractions around. Behind Park Lane is the aristocratic district of Mayfair with charming old houses, on the other side of it is a large and beautiful Hyde Park.

Park Lane connects two streets - Oxford Street, which has a record number of democratic shops, and Piccadilly with its historic buildings. On both these streets there are many cafes and coffee shops, but a good restaurant is easiest to find in Mayfair, the prices here are much higher than the average for the city, but the quality is usually good.