walk/tour
Pushkin House, 5a Bloomsbury Square, WC1A 2TA
Beyond the grid of leafy squares and graceful Georgian terraces, studded with tourist attractions like the British Museum and Senate House, there is another side to Bloomsbury. Starting inside the 1740s Grade II listed Pushkin House on the southern edge of the area, we'll wander through the back streets and alleys discovering its hidden gems.
Holborn
Farringdon
55, 188, 98
Walking tour
12:00–14:30
How to book
Please create a free visitor account to book your festival tickets.
Bloomsbury to most visitors means leafy squares and graceful Georgian terraces, studded with tourist attractions like the British Museum and Senate House. But there is another side to the area – and that’s what this walk will explore. Beyond the elegant grid of streets and squares that belong to the Bedford Estates, Bloomsbury has been developed by a patchwork of landowners and builders over the past three-and-a-half centuries, and this is a walk through the more varied streetscape that has resulted.
Starting inside the 1740s Grade II listed Pushkin House on the southern edge, we'll wander through the back streets and alleys of the often overlooked eastern side of Bloomsbury, looking at efforts in the past and present to rebuild, reuse and reinvent buildings at the edges of a conservation area and taking in architectural gems, hidden gardens, Russian revolutionaries and historic social housing developments.
Architecture and other sights on the tour include:
Pushkin House, Victoria House, October Gallery, Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Brunswick centre, 1930s Art Deco Daimler garage, early Peabody Trust housing, Marchmont community garden, St George’s Gardens, Lumen Church, Bramber Green, postwar Cromer Street flats, Argyle Square & Belgrove House site, Camden Town Hall.
The tour is hosted by Pushkin House.
Drop in / Guided tour
community/cultural, historical house, concert/performance space, event
The independent cultural centre Pushkin House will contribute to this year's Open House Festival through a programme of events and community initiatives at its Grade-II listed building in Bloomsbury Square.
Henry Flitcroft, 1744
Drop in / Guided tour
community/cultural, library, museum, art in the public realm, concert/performance space, education
Grade II-listed Georgian domestic building c.1760, formerly part of Bedford Estate. Interior refurbished 1924-5 to form lecture hall (restored 2014), library, bookshop and offices. Oak woodwork and green Doulton tiles line the staircase.
Unknown, 1760
