Early history on an 1869 map. The neighbouring houses were demolished in the early 1960s to allow
Park Lane to be widened. The
Wellington Arch has been moved since this time. The street has been part of a main road for centuries, although there is no evidence that it was part of a
Roman road, unlike
Oxford Street further north. In the
Middle Ages it was known as "the road to
Reading" or "the way from
Colnbrook". During the
Tudor period, relatively settled conditions made expansion beyond London's city walls a safer venture. Property speculation became a lucrative enterprise, and developments grew so rapidly that the threat of disease and disorder prompted the government to ban developments. Owing to the momentum of growth, the laws had little real effect. A plot of land bounded by
Coventry, Sherwood, Glasshouse and Rupert streets and the line of Smith's Court was granted by
Elizabeth I to William Dodington, a gentleman of London, in 1559–60. A year or so later it was owned by a brewer, Thomas Wilson of St Botolph-without-Aldgate. The grant did not include a small parcel of land, acres in area, on the east of what is now
Great Windmill Street. That plot may have never belonged to the Crown, and was owned by Anthony Cotton in the reign of
Henry VIII. John Cotton granted it to John Golightly in 1547, and his descendants sold it to a tailor, Robert Baker, in –12. Six or seven years later, Baker bought 22 acres of Wilson's land, thanks largely to money from his second marriage. Shortly after purchasing the land, he enclosed it (the parishioners had
Lammas grazing rights) and erected several dwellings, including a residence and shop for himself; within two years his house was known as Pickadilly Hall. Devonshire House survived until 1921, before being sold for redevelopment by
Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire for £1 million. Burlington House has since been home to the
Royal Academy of Arts, the
Geological Society of London, the
Linnean Society of London, the
Royal Astronomical Society, the
British Astronomical Association, the
Society of Antiquaries of London and the
Royal Society of Chemistry. , home to several
learned societies The land to the south of Piccadilly was leased to trustees of the
Earl of St Albans in 1661 for a thirty-year term, subsequently extended to 1740. Nos. 162–165 were granted
freehold by the king to
Sir Edward Villiers in 1674. By 1680, most of the original residential properties along Portugal Street had been demolished or built over. The name Piccadilly was applied to part of the street east of
Swallow Street by 1673, and eventually became the
de facto name for the entire length of Portugal Street. A plan of the area around St James Parish in 1720 describes the road as "Portugal Street
aka Piccadilly".
John Rocque's Map of London, published in 1746, refers to the entire street as Piccadilly.
18th–19th centuries in 1810 Piccadilly was increasingly developed, and by the middle of the 18th century it was continuously built on as far as Hyde Park Corner. The development of
St James's and Mayfair, in particular, made Piccadilly one of the busiest roads in London. Hugh Mason and William Fortnum started the
Fortnum & Mason partnership on Piccadilly in 1705, selling recycled candles from
Buckingham Palace. By 1788, the store sold poultry, potted meats, lobsters and prawns, savoury patties, Scotch eggs, and fresh and dried fruits. The street acquired a reputation for numerous inns and bars during this period. The
Old White Horse Cellar, at No. 155, was one of the most famous coaching inns in England but was later destroyed. The Black Bear and White Bear (originally the Fleece) public houses were nearly opposite each other, although the former was demolished in about 1820. Also of note were the Hercules' Pillars, just west of Hamilton Place, the Triumphant Car, which was popular with soldiers, and the White Horse and Half Moon. The
Bath Hotel emerged around 1790 and
Walsingham House was built in 1887. The Bath and the Walsingham were demolished when the
Ritz Hotel opened on the site in 1906. No. 106, on the corner of Piccadilly and Brick Street, was built for
Hugh Hunlock in 1761. It was subsequently owned by the
6th Earl of Coventry who remodelled it around 1765; most of the architecture from this renovation has survived. In 1869, it became home to the
St James's Club, a
gentleman's club that remained there until 1978. The building is now the London campus of the
Limkokwing University of Creative Technology. Several members of the
Rothschild family had mansions at the western end of the street.
Nathan Mayer Rothschild moved his banking premises to No. 107 in 1825, and the construction of other large buildings, complete with ballrooms and marble staircases, led to the street being colloquially referred to as Rothschild Row.
Ferdinand James von Rothschild lived at No. 143 with his wife
Evelina while
Lionel de Rothschild lived at No. 148. Melbourne House was designed by
William Chambers for
Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne and built between 1770 and 1774. It was converted to apartments in 1802, and is now the
Albany. The house has been the residence for the
British Prime Ministers William Ewart Gladstone and
Edward Heath.
St James's Hall was designed by Owen Jones and built between 1857 and 1858.
Charles Dickens gave several readings of his novels in the hall, including
Great Expectations and
Oliver Twist. The hall hosted performances from
Antonín Dvořák,
Edvard Grieg and
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was demolished in 1905, and replaced by the Piccadilly Hotel. has been based on Piccadilly since 1797, occupying the current premises at what is now No. 187 in 1801 In the late 18th century, Piccadilly was a favoured place for booksellers. In 1765, John Almon opened a shop in No. 178, which was frequented by
Lord Temple and other Whigs. John Stockdale opened a shop on No. 181 in 1781. The business continued after his death in 1810, and was run by his family until 1835.
Hatchards, now the oldest surviving bookshop in Britain, was started by John Hatchard at No. 173 in 1797; it moved to the current location at No. 189–190 (now No. 187) in 1801.
Aldine Press moved to Piccadilly from
Chancery Lane in 1842, and remained there until 1894. Number 195 is now home to
BAFTA,
Lyons' first
teashop opened in Piccadilly in 1894, and from 1909 they developed into a chain, ultimately numbering around 200 locations, with the firm becoming a staple of the
High Street in the UK.
20th–21st centuries hotel opened in Piccadilly in 1906 By the 1920s, most old buildings on the street had been demolished or were in institutional use; traffic noise had driven away residents, but a few residential properties remained.
Albert, Duke of York was living at
145 Piccadilly at the time of his accession as King George VI in 1936; it was badly damaged by a bomb during the
London Blitz. , now the
Waterstones flagship store The clothing store
Simpson's was established at 203–206 Piccadilly by Alec Simpson in 1936, providing factory-made men's clothing. The premises were designed by the architect Joseph Amberton in a style that mixed
art deco and
Bauhaus school design and an influence from
Louis Sullivan. On opening, it claimed to be the largest menswear store in London. It closed in January 1999; its premises are currently the flagship shop of the
booksellers Waterstones. During the 20th century, Piccadilly became known as a place to acquire
heroin. Jazz trumpeter
Dizzy Reece recalled people queuing outside Piccadilly's branch of
Boots for heroin pills in the late 1940s. By the 1960s, the street and surrounding area were notorious as the centre of London's
illegal drug trade, where heroin and
cocaine could be purchased on the
black market from unscrupulous chemists. By 1982, up to 20 people could be seen queueing at a chemist dealing in illegal drugs in nearby
Shaftesbury Avenue.
No. 144 was occupied by
squatters in 1968, taking advantage of a law that allowed disused buildings to be used for emergency shelter for the homeless. The radical squatting movement that resulted foundered soon afterward, owing to the rise of drug dealers and
Hells Angels occupying the site. An eviction took place on 21 September 1969; the events resulted in the licensing of squatting organisations that could take over empty premises to use as homeless shelters. In 1983, A. Burr of the
British Journal of Addiction published an article on "The Piccadilly Drug Scene", in which the author discussed the regular presence of known dealers and easy accessibility of drugs. Today, Piccadilly is regarded as one of London's principal shopping streets, hosting several famous shops. The Ritz Hotel,
Park Lane Hotel,
Athenaeum Hotel and
Intercontinental Hotel are located on the street, along with other luxury hotels and offices. During the 20th century, it had been an established area for gentlemen's clubs; this usage has sharply declined, and only the
Cavalry and Guards Club and the
Royal Air Force Club remain. ==Transport==