The Strand in London connects Trafalgar Square with Fleet Street, or the West End with the City of London. It is about one kilometre and 200 meters long. In the Middle Ages it was a road for horses. They built numerous aristocratic palaces, such as Savoy Palace, of which now only Savoy Chapel remains.
The Strand was once a street of private homes, although it doesn’t seem so now. For example, we recall Durham House from Tudor times.
The Strand was the road that ran along the Thames before the Embankments were built. Somerset House was once right on the river. The Strand in London has a long history At number 396 is the headquarters of the Observer, the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, founded in 1791.
Look at what remains of the sculptures at Zimbabwe House at number 429. They are by the sculptor Jacob Epstein and initially declared obscene by bishops and other religious figures.
They were however partially destroyed by the South Rhodesia government when it took over the building. At 216 is the Twining shop where you can visit a small tea museum
At the end of the 1800s the Strand had almost all the theatres in London, now only three remain Bush House on the Strand was originally an office building for secret services but from the Second World War it became the main headquarters of the BBC radio.
At number 440 is the historic Coutts bank founded by the Scottish goldsmith John Campbell in 1692, the bank was then sold to the Scottish banker James Coutts who moved the headquarters to London in 1904. Unknown London: St Olave Hart Street At number 414 is the famous Adelphi Theatre, built in 1806 by John Scott, a merchant who wanted to promote the career of his daughter Jane who wanted to be an actress.
Somerset House is also located on the Strand in London. At number 80 you can also see Shell-Mex House, the offices of the Shell oil company since 1930. It is an art deco style building with the largest clock in London. On the Strand in London there was also the Aldwych tube station.
It was initially on the Piccadilly Line and was called the Strand until 1915 when it was renamed Aldwych. In 1930 it was closed and was used during World War II to hide ancient treasures from the British Museum.
It was reopened towards the end of the Second World War and closed again in 1994.The Strand has two pedestrian areas on which there are two churches: St Mary-le-Strand and St Clement Danes, when the Strand was enlarged they should have been demolished, but at the eventually it was decided to leave them in the middle of traffic.
On the Strand you will also see the imposing and neo-Gothic Royal Court of Justice, the court for civil and non-criminal cases. There is also King’s College, a fairly recent university founded in 1828 by the Duke of Wellington as an Anglican university. A university building on the Strand is from the 1960s in pure Brutalist style. Somerset House and Charing Cross Station are also located on the Strand.
