This cosmopolitan West End district is sometimes referred to as Marylebone Village. The area is located north of Oxford Street, west of Fitzrovia, and east of Regent’s Park. Primarily a residential area, it is also home to Harley Street with its multitude of doctors and surgeons, and the fashionable shops of Marylebone High Street – which was voted ‘London’s favourite street’ in a nationwide survey carried out by BBC Radio 4.
Architectural highlights
Marylebone is characterised by fine Georgian terraces, distinguished mews houses and attractive garden squares, bordered by generously proportioned Victorian portered mansion blocks.
Smartest streets
There are smart streets in abundance here, but of particular interest are Mansfield Street with its truly opulent Robert Adams residences – most with a price tag in excess of £10 million – and the various mews dwellings close to the High Street, with the average price of a house in Devonshire Mews South, Wimpole Mews, Weymouth Mews or Devonshire Close being between £2 and £2.5 million.
Who’s there
Baker Street’s most famous resident, Sherlock Holmes, may have been fictional, but a number of well-known names have been attracted by the idea of village living in the heart of London, most famously Madonna.
Entertainment
From the tourist delights of Madame Tussauds and the Planetarium on Marylebone Road, to the designer boutiques and cafés of Marylebone High Street, via some of London’s finest eateries such as The Orrery, you’ll find something to keep you entertained at any time of the day in bustling Marylebone.
Education
Specialist establishments The Sylvia Young Theatre School and The Royal Academy of Music, can be found in Marylebone. Queen’s College London is an excellent all girls’ school with pupils ranging from nursery age right up to sixth form, Portland Place School takes boys and girls from the age of 10, and Abercorn School caters for Nursery through to Preparatory School children. St Vincent’s Primary School and St Marylebone School are both excellent state schools.
Travel
Marylebone is so central that you should be able to walk to most places, but the area is served by numerous buses, the Overland station at Marylebone and Underground stations at Regent’s Park (Bakerloo); Baker Street (Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith and City, Bakerloo and Jubilee); Bond Street (Central and Jubilee); Marble Arch (Central); Marylebone (Bakerloo); Edgware Road (Hammersmith and City, District, Circle and Bakerloo) and Oxford Circus (Victoria, Central and Bakerloo).
Trivia
Marylebone gets its name from the church of St Mary’s (now Marylebone Church) which once stood on the banks of the river Tyburn. The small stream now runs underground to meet the Thames at Vauxhall Bridge.
