London Districts: Fitzrovia (Documentary)

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Episode Transcription (Truncated):

The district of Fitzrovia straddles the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden. It's 1 mile from the centre of London; Charing Cross, and is sandwiched between Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road.

2nd Duke of Grafton, Charles FitzRoy, purchased the Manor of Tottenham Court with surrounding Tottenhall and built Fitzroy Square for aristocratic families, mostly designed by architect Robert Adam and erected by Robert's two brothers in 1798.

The façade is made of Portland Stone, a type of stone quarried from the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Charles gave his name to the square along with Fitzroy Street. His grandson, 1st Baron Southampton, later developed the northern portions of the district.

The 189m concrete BT Tower was commissioned by the General Post Office, and took 5 years of construction at a cost of £2.5 million. When it opened in 1966, a million visitors came that year to marvel at the structure famously overtaking the Millbank Tower as the tallest building in the UK.

The first 16 floors were originally used for power and housing technical equipment. The slimmer 35-metre section above that held the microwave aerials used to transmit telecommunications traffic across the country and all that was topped off with a revolving restaurant on the 34th floor providing panoramic City views and making one revolution every 23 minutes.

Most of the building is covered in a special tint to prevent heat build-up and the narrow cylindrical shape was chosen to limit the building shifting anymore than 10 inches in the wind. Its height was surpassed by the NatWest Tower in 1980.

The national communications being sent across the network were so important; the building's very existence was declared an official state secret for years. One university student won a race up the stairs in 4 minutes and 46 seconds. The high-speed lifts will get you to the 'Top of the Tower' within 30 seconds at 16 mph.

At turn of the century, a display made up of over half a million LED lights in 177 vertical strips wrapped themselves around the 36th and 37th floors to form the "Information Band".

Fitzrovia has about 8,000 residents. 1,500 are over 65, 1000 of them live in student halls of residence and about 40 are homeless and sleeping rough on the streets.

The Saint Charles Borromeo is a Roman Catholic Church on Ogle Street in the Diocese of Westminster named after a 16th-century Italian saint.

The architect; Samuel Joseph Nicholl, designed the outside in a Gothic Revival style. It was built in 1862 and opened the next year at a cost of £4000 pounds sitting on land that was gifted by an anonymous donor.

Attendant’s co-founders, Ryan and Bosh, want quality brunch cafés serving fresh, local and ethically sourced food.

Their first site is in this disused Victorian toilet. They pay higher prices for their coffee beans based on its quality and they're skilful roasting, releases the inherent flavour of the beans, honouring the hard work the farmers and growers put in on the field.

Since opening in 2013, the Attendant has developed into a coffee roastery, café and kitchen, with the intention of bringing permaculture to the UK café scene.

Until the 1930's, the manor of Tottenham Court and its immediate surroundings were known as London's Old Latin Quarter. This was popularised by a book of the same name authored by Edwin Beresford Chancellor.

Fitzroy Tavern started out as a Coffee House in 1883 before eventually being re-opened with its current name by Russian tailor Judah Kleinfeld in 1919. It's named after the Fitzroy family but it is this pub which made their surname well-known and actually gave the district of Fitzrovia its title.

Iconic literary figures Dylan Thomas, Virginia Woolf, Jacob Epstein and George Bernard Shaw, to name only a few, were all locals to the pub and were bound to have raised a few glasses there inside their bohemian lifestyles.
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You have such a calm soothing voice. Love your tours.

suzannehawkins
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Brilliant episode! The streets are noticeably empty, very sad to see London like this.

itsjustme
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We just came back from 2 weeks in London, 1 of which was at the Rathbone Hotel in Fitzrovia. The Marquis of Granby soon became of 4:00 pint stop as it was just down the street. This neighbourhood is a foodie's dream.

DavidM
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Dewyne... Im from mexico and i really enjoy your videos.... it´s a pleasure to watch something curated with so much patience and love... thanks

holdenmexico
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Absolutely love these Dewyne - excellent work, and every day is a school day when I watch one. 👍🏽

londonlore
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Such a quality series. Love it. A wonderful new discovery. The music is so infectious too. Great Edutainment!

SteveHughesMusicT-hex
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Great video. My family stayed in Fitzrovia for a week, on Mortimer Street. It was surprisingly quiet being so close to the noise of Oxford Street just a short walk away.

blchamblisscscp
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Once again well done Dewyne! The amount of knowledge this man puts into a matter of minutes is unbelievable, sad to see the streets of London so empty😪 catch the Notting Hill video, fantastic👍🏾

monicagilbert
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Dewyne I hope to visit London one day and have a pint with you. Simply brilliant. I love your work. You love them angles and as you capture the front of stores and motorways, you never miss an opportunity to highlight the movement of time and space. Great juxtaposition of new and old. Wonderful soundtrack as usual. Yeth Thar has such a British feel. That's only was I can explain it. Bravo my brother. Can't wait to catch up on all the other new videos you posted.

kclew
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Love these videos - professionally done, well researched thanks

ArbHunter
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I lived here in the early 90s for a short time. It has a magical atmosphere, especially at night.

StarWarsJay
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What a wonderful video essay of one of London's most interesting districts. Thank you so much.

RonRicho
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Oh my goodness I am so glad I found this channel I always wanted to visit London and thru your channel I can 😁
Thank you so much for your wonderful and informative videos

elizabethelrod
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Hello Dewyne. I really enjoy watching this documentary video. Well researched and excellently presented. And yes the soothing voice of yourself simply added to the very high value of this channel. Respect!!!

zulkiflijamil
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Love the narration..just watched the one on Richmond and subscribed ..

rogerpancake
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One of the four major quadrants of the West End area mainly centred around the highly active commercial thoroughfare, Oxford Street. Others are Marylebone, Mayfair, Soho.

mayena
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Another great video and narration Dewyne, very professionally done!

alanjacks
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Great video. Looking forward to more areas 🙏👍

seancumpper
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What a delight for a Saturday night. Great stuff (as ever). Love learning so much about places I think I know about

Petecope
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Excellent content, charming voice. Thank you.

lyndacole