Covent Garden has a special significance as the birth-place of modern town planning in London. Inigo Jones's Italianate Piazza, designed in the 1630s for the 4th Earl of Bedford, was unlike anything the capital had seen before, and provided the prototype for the laying-out of London's suburban estates for centuries to come. Based on a detailed study of the surviving fabric and the Bedford Estate's archives, this volume recounts the story of the Piazza's evolution (and eventual redevelopment), including the building of St Paul's Church, the area's principal monument. In addition to the Piazza and surrounding streets, the volume also describes the buildings of the Covent Garden Market, at the time the nation's principal market for horticultural produce, since removed to Nine Elms, Battersea.
Survey of London. Originally published by London County Council, London, 1970.
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