Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Marylebone High Street
Marylebone High Street
is all that's left of the village street that once ran along the
banks of the Tyburn stream. It's become considerably more upmarket since those
bucolic days, though the pace of the street is leisurely by central London standards.
A couple of shops, in particular, deserve mention: the branch of
Patisserie Valerie
, at
no. 105, is decorated inside with the same mock-Pompeian frescoes that adorned it
when it was founded as
Maison Sagne
in 1921 by a Swiss pastry-cook; Daunt, a
purpose-built bookshop from 1910, at no. 83, specializes in travel books, and has a
lovely, long, galleried hall at the back, with a pitched roof of stained glass.
St James's Church, Spanish Place
22 George St • Mon-Fri 7am-7pm, Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 8am-8pm •
T
020 7935 0943,
W
sjrcc.org.uk •
!
Bond Street or Baker Street
Despite its name,
St James's Church, Spanish Place,
is actually tucked away on
neighbouring George Street, just off Marylebone High Street. A Catholic chapel was
built here in 1791 thanks to the efforts of the chaplain at the Spanish embassy, though
the present neo-Gothic building dates from 1890. Designed in a mixture of English
and French Gothic, the interior is surprisingly large and richly furnished, from the
white marble and alabaster pulpit to the richly gilded heptagonal apse. The Spanish
connection continues to this day: Spanish royal heraldry features in the rose window,
and there are even two seats reserved for the royals, denoted by built-in gilt crowns
high above the choir stalls.
4
Baker Street
Running north-south through Marylebone,
Baker Street
is a fairly nondescript
one-way highway. Despite its unprepossessing nature, its associations with the fictional
detective Sherlock Holmes are, naturally, fully exploited. At the northern edge of
Marylebone, Baker Street is bisected by the six-lane highway of
Marylebone Road
. Built
as the New Road in the 1750s, to provide London with its first bypass, it remains one
of London's major tra
c arteries, and is no place for a casual stroll. There are, however,
a couple of minor sights, such as
St Marylebone Church
and the
Royal Academy of
Music
, and one major tourist trap,
Madame Tusssauds
, that are all an easy stroll from
Baker Street tube.
Madame Tussauds
Marylebone Rd • Mon-Fri 9.30am-5.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am-6pm • £30 •
T
0871 894 3000,
W
madametussauds.com •
!
Baker Street
The wax models at
Madame Tussauds
have been pulling in the crowds ever since the
good lady arrived from France in 1802 bearing the sculpted heads of guillotined
aristocrats (she was lucky to escape the same fate - her uncle, who started the family
business, was less fortunate). The entrance fee might be extortionate and the likenesses
dubious, but London's biggest queues form here - to avoid joining them (and to save
money), book online, or whizz round after 5pm for half-price.
here are
photo opportunities
galore in the first few sections, which are peppered
with contemporary celebrities from the BBC to Bollywood. Look out for the
diminutive Madame Tussaud herself, and the oldest wax model, Madame du Barry,
Louis XV's mistress, who gently respires as Sleeping Beauty - in reality she was
beheaded in the French Revolution. The
Chamber of Horrors
is irredeemably tasteless,
and - in the section called “Scream” - features costumed actors who jump out at you
in the dark (you can opt out of this). All the “great” British serial killers are here, and it
remains the murderer's greatest honour to be included. There's a reconstruction of John
Christie's hanging, a tableau of Marat's death in the bath and the very guillotine that
lopped off Marie Antoinette's head, just for good measure.
Tussauds also features the
Spirit of London
,
an irreverent five-minute romp through
the history of London in a miniaturized taxicab, taking you from Elizabethan times to
