Editing Covent Garden (section)

===Covent Garden Piazza===
[[File:Covent Garden Piazza with London Transport Museum - geograph.org.uk - 215169.jpg|thumb|Covent Garden Piazza]]

The central square in Covent Garden is simply called "Covent Garden", often marketed as "Covent Garden Piazza" to distinguish it from the eponymous surrounding area. Designed and laid out in 1630, it was the first modern square in London—originally a flat, open space or [[piazza]] with low railings.<ref name=4th>{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.aspx?pubid=362 |title=Survey of London: volume 36: Covent Garden |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |year=1970 |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |access-date=27 July 2010 |archive-date=12 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100712120032/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.aspx?pubid=362 |url-status=live}}</ref> From about 1635 onwards there were many [[List of private residents of Covent Garden|private residents of note]], including the nobility, living in the Great Piazza. A casual market started on the south side, and by 1830 the present market hall had been built. The space is popular with street performers, who audition with the site's owners for an allocated slot.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coventgardenlondonuk.com/events-entertainment-culture/articles/street-performer-auditions |title=Street performer auditions |publisher=Covent Garden London Official Guide |access-date=1 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224083443/http://www.coventgardenlondonuk.com/events-entertainment-culture/articles/street-performer-auditions |archive-date=24 December 2010}}</ref> The square was originally laid out when the 4th Earl of Bedford, Francis Russell, commissioned Inigo Jones to design and build a church and three terraces of fine houses around the site of a former walled garden belonging to Westminster Abbey.<ref name=4th/> Jones's design was informed by his knowledge of modern town planning in Europe, particularly Piazza d'Arme, in [[Leghorn, Tuscany]], [[Piazza San Marco]] in Venice, [[Piazza Santissima Annunziata]] in Florence, and the [[Place des Vosges]] in Paris.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46091 |title=Survey of London: volume 36: Covent Garden |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |access-date=28 July 2010 |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |year=1970 |pages=64–76 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805130851/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46091 |url-status=live}}</ref> The centrepiece of the project was the large square, the concept of which was new to London, and this had a significant influence on modern town planning as the metropolis grew,<ref name=4th/> acting as the prototype for the design of new estates, such as the [[Ladbroke Estate]] and the [[Grosvenor Estate]].<ref name=INF>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/garden-party-491936.html |author=Nick Lloyd Jones |title=Garden party |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=27 July 2010 |date=25 May 2005 |archive-date=3 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103175432/https://www.independent.co.uk/property/house-and-home/garden-party-491936.html |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Isaac de Caus]], the [[French Huguenot]] architect, designed the individual houses under Jones's overall design.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXUe0vcVIM0C&pg=PA202 |title=Inigo Jones and the Classical Tradition |page=204 |author=Christy Anderson |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-82027-1}}</ref>

The church of [[St Paul's, Covent Garden|St Paul's]] was the first building and was begun in July 1631 on the western side of the square. The last house was completed in 1637.<ref name=Piazza>{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46092 |title=Survey of London: volume 36: Covent Garden |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |year=1970 |pages=77–80 |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |access-date=28 July 2010 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805130835/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46092 |url-status=live}}</ref> Seventeen of the houses had [[Arcade (architecture)|arcaded]] [[portico]] walks organised in groups of four and six either side of James Street on the north side, and three and four either side of Russell Street. These arcades, rather than the square itself, took the name Piazza;<ref name=Hibbert/> the group from James Street to Russell Street became known as the "Great Piazza" and that to the south of Russell Street as the "Little Piazza".<ref name=Piazza/> None of Inigo Jones's houses remains, though part of the north group was reconstructed in 1877–79 as Bedford Chambers by [[William Cubitt (politician)|William Cubitt]] to a design by [[Henry Clutton]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Proposed Development at Bedford Chambers and No. 1 and Nos. 6–7 (inclusive) The Piazza |url=http://pdf.ifoman.com.s3.amazonaws.com/coventgarden_0809_design-access_statement.pdf |publisher=City of Westminster |access-date=7 May 2011 |date=2 July 2008 |page=7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707123924/http://pdf.ifoman.com.s3.amazonaws.com/coventgarden_0809_design-access_statement.pdf |archive-date=7 July 2011}}</ref>