Tavistock Square
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Tavistock Square is a square in Bloomsbury, London with a fine garden. It was developed in the 1820s by the builder Thomas Cubitt. The centre-piece of the gardens is a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, which was installed in 1968. There is also a memorial to conscientious objectors (unveiled in 1995), and a cherry tree planted in 1967 in memory of the victims of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima.
The square is part of an estate owned by the Dukes of Bedford, and takes its name from the courtesy title given to the eldest sons of the Dukes of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock.
The following buildings are on Tavistock Square:
- BMA House, the headquarters of the British Medical Association (BMA), the professional association of doctors in the United Kingdom. BMA House was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and is a grade II listed building. [1]
- headquarters of the United World Colleges and Universities UK, the conference of university rectors
- the Tavistock Hotel.
- Connaught Hall, a University of London hall of residence, which houses 215 students, and a grade II listed building.
On the BMA building is a blue plaque commemorating that Charles Dickens once lived in a house on the site.
[edit] London bombings
On 7 July 2005 as part of the 7/7 London Bombings, a bomb exploded on a double-decker bus in the north-east corner of the square, outside the BMA building. This resulted in 13 fatalities. The square is also almost above the spot where the Piccadilly Line underground train exploded resulting in 27 fatalities.
On the occasion of the first anniversary in 2006, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced that the square would be the site of the permanent national memorial. A memorial garden is to be laid out in part of the existing garden and the BMA has commissioned a commemorative sundial.
[edit] See also
Other squares on the Bedford Estate in Bloomsbury included:
[edit] External links
- Aerial photo showing Gordon Square and Tavistock Square.
- Other map sources.
