Harley Street, London
1920’s: At the beginning of the 1700’s, London was growing immensely with the start of the Industrial Revolution. The area that Harley street became a part of, Marylebone Village, benefited significantly with the era’s growing wealth. The area was becoming filled with huge, prestige houses. The largest home was called the Tyburn estate and was eventually owned by Edward Harley through a series of marriages. Harley noted there was a need for fashionable housing in the area and commissioned a grid system of streets. They named one of the many streets after the family name, thus Harley Street becoming an actual street. By the 1800’s, Harley Street became extremely popular with doctors. It was a central location, which made it easily accessible to public transport. The prestige air wafting through the area drew most doctors to relocate to the street, as well. The houses on the street were large enough for the doctors to reside there and use them as doctor offices. As many doctors relocated to the area, Harley street began to be known as the center of medical excellence. In 1912, the Royal Society of Medicine relocated there. By 1948, the National Health Service was established and there were about 1,500 doctors living and working on Harley Street.
Now: According to the Harley Therapy Blog, Harley Street today can be described as “a lovely street to walk along, wide and spacious and lined with well-kept Georgian mansions that boast multi-paned symmetric windows, elaborate doorways, wrought iron gates and flower boxes”, similar to how it looked in the 1900’s. The space is still used for medical practices of the most esteemed and established doctors, surgeons, and healthcare practitioners, including psychotherapists, psychiatrists and counsellors.
Coordinates
Longitude: -0.147526800000