Brook Street

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For the recruitment agency, see Brook Street Bureau plc

Houses of Jimi Hendrix and George Frideric Handel

Brook Street is one of the principal streets on the Grosvenor Estate in the exclusive central London district of Mayfair. It was developed in the first half of the 18th century and runs from Hanover Square to Grosvenor Square. The continuation from Grosvenor Square to Park Lane is called Upper Brook Street. Both sections originally consisted of typical London terraced houses, mostly built to individual designs. Some of them are quite grand and were designed by well known architects for aristocratic clients, especially near Grosvenor Square, while others are more modest. Some of the original houses survive while others have been replaced by buildings from a variety of periods.

Features of the street include the grand hotel Claridge's, at the junction with Davies Street, and Le Gavroche, a famous restaurant. The United States Embassy, which abuts Upper Brook Street and Grosvenor Square, has necessitated security arrangements which impede free access to the former. The Handel House Museum is also in Brook Street. A curiosity is the placing of two blue plaques on adjoining houses, numbers 23 and 25, both for famous musicians.

Westward view from the east end of Brook Street, close to Hanover Square.

Former residents:

23 Brook Street: Jimi Hendrix — guitarist
25 Brook Street: Georg Frideric Handel — composer - now the Handel House Museum
39 Brook Street: Sir Jeffry Wyatville — architect
74 Brook Street: Sir William Withey Gull - physician (Jack the Ripper suspect)
76 Brook Street: Colen Campbell — architect
22 Upper Brook Street: Leo Bonn — founder of what is now the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.
51 Upper Brook Street: George Seferis — Greek Ambassador, poet and Nobel Laureate