Monopoly 11) Northumberland Avenue

Northumberland Avenue is a relatively short thoroughfare which links Trafalgar Square with the Embankment. It’s one of the youngest streets on the London Monopoly board. Pall Mall was laid out in the 1660s, and Whitehall was laid out following the burning down of Whitehall Palace right at the end of the 17^th century. Northumberland Avenue was built between 1874 and 1876. It was built on the site of the former Northumberland House, the London home of the Percy family, the Dukes of Northumberland.

It's always struck me as a continental style Avenue whenever I’ve had cause to frequent it. Partly this is because although it’s short, it’s also very wide. This was a method the developers used to get around local building and planning regulations that stipulated that hotels must not be built taller than the width of the road they were on. Notable amongst these was the Hotel Metropole, which still exists, but under another name. Prince Albert Edward, the future King Edward VII was very fond of it. The building is notable for its striking wedge shape.

Another interesting building is a preserved cabmen’s shelter. Laws in London in the 19^th century stipulated that horse-drawn cab rivers could not leave their cab while it was on a cab stand. The cab shelter fund – which still exists to maintain the shelters - was established to build shelters for cabmen so that they could get a hot meal without risking their cabs being stolen, and that they had less of a risk of freezing to death in the depths of winter. At one time these distinctive little green buildings were a fairly common sight in London. There were more than 60 of them. I remember one in Ealing Broadway when I was growing up in the 70s. That’s gone, although it has been replaced by a new structure which is obviously inspired by the cabmen’s shelter. There are only 13 remaining now, but each one is a listed building.