Following the demolition of
Bedford House, Russell Square and Bedford Square were laid out in 1804. The square is named after the surname of the Earls and
Dukes of Bedford, who developed the family's London landholdings in the 17th and 18th centuries. Other past residents include the famous 19th-century architectural father-and-son partnership,
Philip and
Philip Charles Hardwick, who lived at number 60 in the 1850s. On the eastern side the
Hotel Russell, built in 1898 to a design by
Charles Fitzroy Doll, dominates (its builders were connected with the company which created
RMS Titanic), alongside the
Imperial Hotel, which was also designed by
Charles Fitzroy Doll and built from 1905 to 1911. The old Imperial building was demolished in 1967. The square contained large terraced houses aimed mainly at upper-middle-class families. A number of the original houses survive, especially on the southern and western sides. Those to the west are occupied by the
University of London, and there is a
blue plaque on one at the north-west corner commemorating the fact that
T. S. Eliot worked there from the late 1920s when he was poetry editor of
Faber & Faber. That building is now used by the
School of Oriental and African Studies (a college of the University of London). In 1998, the
London Mathematical Society moved from rooms in
Burlington House to
De Morgan House, at 57–58 Russell Square, in order to accommodate staff expansion. The
Cabmen's Shelter Fund was established in London in 1875 to run shelters for the drivers of
hansom cabs and later
hackney carriages (and
taxicabs). In 2002, the square was re-landscaped in a style based on the original early 19th century layout by
Humphry Repton (1752–1818). Since 2004, the two buildings on the southern side, at numbers 46 and 47, have been occupied by the
Huron University USA in London (now the London campus for EF International Language Centres and is the Centre for Professional Students over the age of 25). On 7 July 2005,
two terrorist bombings occurred near the square. One of them was on a
London Underground train at that moment running between
King's Cross St Pancras tube station and
Russell Square tube station, and another was on a bus on
Tavistock Square, near Russell Square. To commemorate the victims, many flowers were laid at a spot on Russell Square just south of the café. The location is now marked by a memorial
plaque and a young
oak tree. The square was also the site of
a mass stabbing in 2016. The London Branch of
École Jeannine Manuel has occupied 52–53 Russell Square since 2019. Russell Square has been a notable location for public demonstrations, including protests organised by The Palestine Coalition, which garnered media attention in 2026. The
Metropolitan Police has set specific conditions for Palestine-related demonstrations in the square and throughout
central London, as several pro-Palestine protesters were arrested for chanting "
globalise the intifada". == Literature and culture ==