Detail View: Archivision Base to Module 9: Regent Street

Preferred Title: 
Regent Street
Image View: 
Regent Street, looking northwest from Piccadilly Crescent
Creator: 
John Nash (British architect, 1752-1835)
Location: 
site: London, England, United Kingdom
Date: 
1812-ca. 1826 (creation)
Cultural Context: 
British
Style Period: 
Neoclassical
Work Type 1: 
street
Work Type 2: 
fountain
Work Type 3: 
traffic circle
Classification: 
architecture
Material: 
stone
Technique: 
construction (assembling)
Subjects: 
architectural exteriors; cityscapes; City planning; Roads Design and construction
Description: 
Nash's talents as a planner were displayed to the greatest effect in Regent Street. His first scheme for a new street linking Regents Park with Carlton House and the West End was made in 1812. The street was built under the supervision of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, using government revenue and loans, and, as their surveyor, Nash was made responsible for purchasing property, making bargains with builders and supervising-and, in many cases, designing-the architectural elevations. The layout and architecture display many of the felicities of the picturesque approach to design: variety, surprise, changes of texture and style and the artful management of vistas. The street transformed the face of the West End, demarcating fashionable Mayfair from the shabbier districts to the east, providing sites for shops and creating some of the focal points of modern London: Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and Waterloo Place. (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/)
Collection: 
Archivision Base Collection
Identifier: 
1A1-NJ-RS-D3
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.