Mayfair Hotels London

Mayfair, London - Guide

Mayfair - 4 Sights & Attractions

1. Handel House Museum

If mooching along the aisles of HMV and Virgin has piqued any interest in the lives of musicians or composers, head for 25 Brook Street. George Frideric Handel lived here from 1723 until his death in 1759 and officially the property is the Handel House Museum, but the upper floors were also home to rock legend Jimi Hendrix from 1968 to 1969. It was here that Handel composed some of the greatest music in history, including Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Fireworks Music. The Museum celebrates his life and works, displaying portraits of Handel and his contemporaries in meticulously restored early-Georgian interiors, with original and recreated furnishings, paintings and a welter of the composer’s scores. The programme of events here is also surprisingly dynamic for a museum so small: there are activities for children every Saturday and recitals most Thursdays.

2. Soho Square

Given that Soho itself was once Royal hunting grounds, attached to the Palace of Westminister, the area around Soho Square was originally called Kemps Field, upon which Richard Frith built King's Square in 1677. By the early 18th century everyone called it Soho Square due to the fact Charles I's bastard son, the Duke of Monmouth, had a habit of bellowing "So-Ho" when hunting or going into battle. The lovely Georgian buildings that surround it were originally residential and for a time the square became the most fashionable address in London. But by the late 18th century, with the influx of Greek and French immigrants, its popularity had decreased. Today most of the buildings have been taken over by business of varying repute, though London’s one remaining French Protestant church and the Catholic St Patrick’s Church do nestle amongst them. The gardens, laid out in 1861, still offer a pleasant respite from the surrounding area’s sometimes cramped, crowded streets. There’s even a charmingly tiny, mock Tudor house in the centre – these days used by the square’s attendants as a garden shed.

3. The Wallace Collection

Occupying the handsomely restored, late 18th-century Hertford House, the Wallace Collection, is both a national museum and the finest private collection of art ever assembled by one family. It was bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace, widow of Sir Richard Wallace, in 1897, and opened to the public just over three years later in 1900. Among its treasures are one of the best collections of French 18th-century pictures, Sevres porcelain and furniture in the world – a legacy of the fact that Sir Richard Wallace, as the illegitimate heir of the Marquis of Hertford, inherited treasures that the Marquis – a great Francophile – bought for safekeeping after the Revolution.
There are also galleries of lush paintings by Titian, Velazquez, Gainsborough and Reynolds, while Franz Hal’s Laughing Cavalier is the masterpiece most visitors delight in. Free General Guided Tours of the Collection are usually given on each weekday at 1pm, also Wednesdays and Saturdays at 11:30am, and Sundays at 3pm. These are sometimes replaced by specialist gallery talks covering aspects of the Collection in more detail, often given by members of The Wallace Collection staff. Tours are scheduled to last one hour, except for those in the Brief Encounter series, which start at 1pm and last for 20 minutes. The Wallace Collection restaurant is located in Rick Mather's elegant Sculpture Garden, in the heart of the Collection. Here, the dramatic glass roof provides a light and airy 'outdoor' setting for relaxed dining. The bronze fountain brought by Sir Richard Wallace from his château de Bagatelle in Paris has been re-installed in the centre of the space and gives the restaurant its name: Café Bagatelle.

4. Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1768 by a group of artists headed by portrait painter Joshua Reynolds and moved to the extravagantly Palladian Burlington House a century later. Under Reynolds, the academy functioned as a school aimed at teaching drawing, painting, and sculpture to young artists. Academy classes were provided free of charge and scholarships were available to help needy students and to provide opportunities to pursue studies abroad. Aside from its avowed aims as an art school, the Royal Academy of Arts Academy offered aspiring artists the chance to make a name for themselves by sponsoring an annual Summer Exhibition. This continues today and, with some 12000 pieces submitted each year, 10% of which make it past the judges. The RA also stages a roster of populist temporary exhibitions. As such, it is one of the most prestigious art galleries in the world, and it continues its instruction of approximately 60 young and aspiring artists each year.