Mayfair and St James's, 2017

Mayfair and St James’s, 2016, is pictorial map of the two London districts and celebrates many of its buildings, institutions, architectural features and green spaces. All the art galleries and museums are shown alongside its clubs, hotels, embassies, pubs and bars and other points of interest. It also includes many of the areas’ other landmarks - its blue plaques, statues, and its longstanding restaurants, shops and arcades considered as institutions.

Some curious historical events are noted, such as the Millennium Hotel on Grosvenor Square, and the infamous poisoning of Litvenenko in 2006. The map shows the routes of the new Crossrail tunnels and the Victoria and Jubilee Lines as well as the route of King Scholars Pond Sewer that now ghosts the course of the old Tyburn River. This course is still marked out today by South Molton Lane, Avery Row and Lansdowne Row.

It is a place synonymous with wealth, luxury and grand houses, with many properties now being turned back into residencies following the post-war period that saw many of its building turned into offices and board rooms. Foreign investors have helped this turnaround most notably from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with both countries having their embassies in the area.

All the source imagery for this work came from my own photography. I walked every inch of both Mayfair and St James’s, marking off every road and alleyway in the area. The most striking architectural features that I noticed were the doors, windows and lamps that adorn many of the grand London Town houses. St James’s Palace, built in 1531 for Henry The Eighth on the site of an older women’s Leper hospital is a real gem and what is surprisingly still a reasonably hidden part of central London.

Phileas Fogg and the Reform Club, Nell Gwynne, The Whigs, Beau Brummel, Oscar Wilde, Anthony Gormley, Banksy and Danger Mouse all get a look in alongside the institutions and establishments of Mayfair and St James’s…