Editing Pimlico

{{Short description|Area of Central London, England}}
{{About|the area in London}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = England
| region = London
| static_image_name = Belgrave.jpg
| static_image_caption = Belgrave Road from [[St George's Square]]
| population = 
| official_name = Pimlico
| london_borough = Westminster
| constituency_westminster = [[Cities of London and Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Cities of London and Westminster]]
| post_town = London
| postcode_district = SW1V
| postcode_area = SW
| dial_code = 020
| os_grid_reference = TQ295785
| coordinates = {{coord|51.4887|-0.1395|display=inline,title}}
| static_image_2_name = Map of Pimlico.png
| static_image_2_caption = Map of Pimlico
}}

'''Pimlico''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪ|m|l|ᵻ|k|oʊ}}) is a district in [[Central London]], in the [[City of Westminster]], built as a southern extension to neighbouring [[Belgravia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/LP2011%20Chapter%202.pdf |title=London's Places |work=[[London Plan]]|publisher=[[Greater London Authority]] |year=2011 |page=46 |access-date=27 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906090756/http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/LP2011%20Chapter%202.pdf |archive-date=6 September 2015}}</ref> It is known for its garden squares and distinctive [[Regency architecture]]. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by [[London Victoria station|Victoria Station]], by the [[River Thames]] to the south, [[Vauxhall Bridge Road]] to the east and the former [[Grosvenor Canal]] to the west. At its heart is a grid of residential streets laid down by the planner [[Thomas Cubitt]], beginning in 1825 and now protected as the Pimlico [[Conservation Area]]. The most prestigious are those on garden squares, with buildings decreasing in grandeur away from [[St George's Square]], [[Warwick Square]], [[Eccleston Square]] and the main thoroughfares of Belgrave Road and St. George's Drive. 

Additions have included the pre–[[World War II]] [[Dolphin Square]] and the [[Churchill Gardens]] and [[Lillington and Longmoore Gardens]] estates, now conservation areas in their own right. The area has over 350 [[Listed building|Grade II listed buildings]] and several Grade II* listed churches. At the western edge of Pimlico, on the borders of Chelsea, Pimlico Road has in recent years seen a loss of traditional local retail, replaced by upscale interiors and design stores.

==History==
===Early history and origin of name===
[[Image:Greenwood 1827 cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Greenwood's 1827 map showing parts of Pimlico and [[Millbank, London|Millbank]] prior to development]]
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Manor of Ebury was divided up and leased by the Crown to servants or favourites. In 1623, [[James VI and I|James I]] sold the freehold of Ebury for £1,151 and 15 shillings.{{efn|£1,151.75, about £{{Inflation|UK|1151.75|1623|2021|r=-3|fmt=c}} in 2021, indexed by retail price inflation. Property price inflation has been considerably greater.}} The land was sold on several more times, until it came into the hands of heiress Mary Davies in 1666.

Mary's dowry not only included "The Five Fields" of modern-day Pimlico and [[Belgravia]], but also most of what is now [[Mayfair]] and [[Knightsbridge]]. Understandably, she was much pursued but in 1677, at the age of twelve, married [[Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet]]. The Grosvenors were a family of [[Normans|Norman]] descent long seated at Eaton Hall in Cheshire who, until this auspicious marriage, were of but local consequence in their native county of [[Cheshire]]. Through the development and good management of this land the Grosvenors acquired enormous wealth.

At some point in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, the area ceased to be known as Ebury or "The Five Fields" and gained the name by which it is now known. While its origins are disputed, it is "clearly of foreign derivation.... [[William Gifford|[William] Gifford]], in a note in his edition of [[Ben Jonson]], tells us that 'Pimlico is sometimes spoken of as a person, and may not improbably have been the master of a house once famous for ale of a particular description'."<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45221 'Pimlico', Old and New London] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903035545/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45221 |date=3 September 2014 }}: Volume 5 (1878), pp. 39–49.</ref> Supporting this etymology, [[E. Cobham Brewer]] describes the area as "a district of public gardens much frequented on holidays. According to tradition, it received its name from Ben Pimlico, famous for his nut-brown ale. His tea-gardens, however, were near [[Hoxton]], and the road to them was termed Pimlico Path, so that what is now called Pimlico was so named from the popularity of the Hoxton resort".<ref>Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, [http://www.bartleby.com/81/13282.html/ ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908010928/http://www.bartleby.com/81/13282.html |date=8 September 2015 }}, 1898 edn.</ref>

[[H. G. Wells]], in his novel ''[[The Dream (novel)|The Dream]]'', says that there was a wharf at Pimlico where ships from America docked and that the word Pimlico came with the trade and was the last word left alive of the Algonquin Indian language ([[Carolina Algonquian language|Pamlico]]).

===Development and decline===
[[Image:belgrave district.jpg|thumb|Belgravia and Pimlico in 1903]]
By the 19th century, and as a result of an increase in demand for property in the previously unfashionable West End of London following the [[Great Plague of London]] and the [[Great Fire of London]], Pimlico had become ripe for development. In 1825, [[Thomas Cubitt]] was contracted by Lord Grosvenor to develop Pimlico. The land up to this time had been marshy but was reclaimed using soil excavated during the construction of [[St Katharine Docks]].<ref>''I Never Knew That About London'': Christopher Winn; {{ISBN|978-0-09-191857-6}}</ref>

Cubitt developed Pimlico as a grid of handsome white stucco terraces. The largest and most opulent houses were built along St George's Drive and [[Belgrave Road, Westminster, London|Belgrave Road]], the two principal streets, and Eccleston, Warwick and [[St George's Square]]s. Lupus Street contained similarly grand houses, as well as shops and, until the early twentieth century, a hospital for women and children. Smaller-scale properties, typically of three storeys, line the side streets.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

An 1877 newspaper article described Pimlico as "genteel, sacred to professional men… not rich enough to luxuriate in Belgravia proper, but rich enough to live in private houses." Its inhabitants were "more lively than in Kensington… and yet a cut above Chelsea, which is only commercial."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/spgs/publications/Pimlico%20design%20guide.pdf|title=Pimlico design guide|website=westminster.gov.uk|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303194017/http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/spgs/publications/Pimlico%20design%20guide.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

Although the area was dominated by the well-to-do middle and upper-middle classes as late as [[Charles Booth (social reformer)|Charles Booth]]'s 1889 Map of London Poverty,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umich.edu/%7Erisotto/partialzooms/sw/50swe910.html|title=50swe910.html|work=umich.edu|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512082939/http://www.umich.edu/%7Erisotto/partialzooms/sw/50swe910.html|archive-date=12 May 2008}}</ref> parts of Pimlico are said to have declined significantly by the 1890s. When Rev Gerald Olivier moved to the neighbourhood in 1912 with his family, including the young [[Laurence Olivier]], to minister to the parishioners of [[St Saviour, Pimlico|St Saviour]], it was part of a venture to west London "slums" that had previously taken the family to the depths of [[Notting Hill]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tjM1zjZ6qUoC&dq=Gerard+Kerr+Olivier+saviour's&pg=PA10 ''Olivier''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220032905/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tjM1zjZ6qUoC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=Gerard+Kerr+Olivier+saviour's&source=bl&ots=EXAe64ZB9Q&sig=d4AjAtnT1I3xKENyvK03eECV8aE&hl=en&ei=ZceiSYaGIeLEjAfZo8TGCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result |date=20 December 2016 }}. Coleman, Terry p. 10, Macmillan 2006.</ref>

In 1908, [[G. K. Chesterton]] described Pimlico as "a desperate thing" in his philosophical treatise ''Orthodoxy''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chesterton |first=G.K. |title=[[Orthodoxy (book)|Orthodoxy]] |date=1908 |chapter=The Flag of the World}}</ref>

Through the late nineteenth century, Pimlico saw the construction of several [[George Peabody|Peabody Estates]], charitable housing projects designed to provide affordable, quality homes.

===Twentieth-century resurgence===
[[File:33 Eccleston Square, Pimlico - geograph.org.uk - 4423062.jpg|thumb|upright|33 Eccleston Square; Labour and TUC headquarters offices during the 1920s]]
Proximity to the [[Houses of Parliament]] made Pimlico a centre of political activity. Prior to 1928, the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and [[Trades Union Congress]] shared offices at 33 [[Eccleston Square]], and it was here in 1926 that the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|general strike]] was organised.

In the mid-1930s Pimlico saw a second wave of development with the construction of [[Dolphin Square]], a self-contained "city" of 1,250 up-market flats built on the site formerly occupied by Cubitt's building works. Completed in 1937, it quickly became popular with MPs and public servants. It was home to fascist [[Oswald Mosley]] until his arrest in 1940, and the headquarters of the [[Free French]] for much of the Second World War.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Pimlico survived the war with its essential character intact, although parts sustained significant bomb damage. Through the 1950s these areas were the focus of large-scale redevelopment as the [[Churchill Gardens]] and [[Lillington and Longmoore Gardens]] estates, and many of the larger [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] houses were converted to hotels and other uses.

To provide affordable and efficient heating to the residents of the new post-war developments, Pimlico became one of the few places in the UK to have a [[district heating]] system installed. District heating became popular after World War II to heat the large residential estates that replaced areas devastated by the Blitz. The [[Pimlico District Heating Undertaking]] (PDHU) is just north of the River Thames. The PDHU first became operational in 1950 and continues to expand to this day. The PDHU once relied on waste heat from the now-disused [[Battersea Power Station]] on the south side of the River Thames. It is still in operation, the water now being heated locally by a new energy centre which incorporates 3.1 MWe /4.0 MWTh of gas-fired CHP engines and 3&nbsp;×&nbsp;8 MW gas-fired boilers.

In 1953, the [[Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster|Second Duke of Westminster]] sold the part of the Grosvenor estate on which Pimlico is built.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101121205140/http://www.grosvenorestate.com/About/History/The+London+Estate.htm The Grosvenor Estate], archive.org. Accessed 9 December 2022.</ref>

In 1970, whilst Roger Byron-Collins was a partner in Mullett Booker Estate Agents in Albion Street on the Hyde Park Estate, he sold the entire 27 acre freehold Pimlico Estate for £4.4 million to Jack Dellal of Dalton Barton Bank in a JV with Peter Crane of City and Municipal Properties, being a consortium controlled by the Hanson Trust.  He was introduced to the owners of the Estate by the Hon Brian Alexander, son of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis, who at that time represented Previews International, a part of Coldwell Banker.  Brian Alexander's friend, Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, owner of Mustique island in the Caribbean was friends with Henry Cubitt, Baron Ashcombe the chairman of the builders, Holland, Hannen and Cubbits who developed the estate comprising 480 homes in the 19th Century and were major shareholders in partnership with Harry Reynolds of Reynolds Engineering of then owners CR Developments.  Brian Alexander after leaving Previews International, eventually became MD of the Mustique Company for many decades..<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10497686/Lord-Ashcombe.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308231819/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10497686/Lord-Ashcombe.html |archive-date=8 March 2018|url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Lord Ashcombe – obituary|date=25 December 2013|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref>

Pimlico was connected to the [[London Underground]] in 1972 as a late addition to the [[Victoria line]]. Following the designation of a [[Conservation area#United Kingdom|conservation area]] in 1968 (extended in 1973 and again in 1990), the area has seen extensive regeneration. Successive waves of development have given Pimlico an interesting social mix, combining exclusive restaurants and residences with [[Westminster City Council]]-run facilities.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

''For a history of street name etymologies in the area see: [[Street names of Pimlico and Victoria]]''

== Notable buildings ==
[[File:St gabriel Warwick Square.jpg|thumb|150px|left|[[St Gabriel's, Warwick Square|St Gabriel's Church]] in Warwick Square]]

[[Dolphin Square]] is a block of private apartments built between 1935 and 1937. At the time of their construction the development was billed as the largest self-contained block of flats in Europe. It is home to many [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Members of Parliament]] (MPs).

[[Churchill Gardens]] is a large housing estate covering the south-west corner of Pimlico. It was developed between 1946 and 1962 to a design by the architects Powell and Moya, replacing docks, industrial works, and several Cubitt terraces damaged in the Blitz.

On Buckingham Palace Road is the former "Empire Terminal" of [[Imperial Airways]], a striking [[Art Moderne]] building designed in 1938 by architect Albert Lakeman.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://taylorempireairways.com/2009/11/imperial-airways-building-sw1/|title=Imperial Airways Empire Terminal|work=Taylor Empire Airways|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910082858/http://taylorempireairways.com/2009/11/imperial-airways-building-sw1/|archive-date=10 September 2015}}</ref> Mail, freight and passengers were transported from the terminal to [[Southampton]] via rail before transferring to flying boats. The building now serves as the headquarters of the [[National Audit Office (United Kingdom)|National Audit Office]].

The area contains a number of [[Church of England|Anglican]] churches, most constructed at the time the neighbourhood was laid out. Among them are [[St Gabriel's, Warwick Square|St Gabriel's]] (of which a former Vicar is now [[Archdeacon of Chichester]]), [[St Saviour, Pimlico|St Saviour]] and [[St James the Less, Pimlico|St James the Less]]. From its founding [[St Peter's Church, Eaton Square|St Peter's, Eaton Square, Belgravia]], was usually recorded as St Peter's, Pimlico (at least prior to 1878).<ref name=SPESP>{{cite web|url=http://www.londonancestor.com/views/vc-peters.htm|title=St. Peter's Church in Pimlico London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305201056/http://www.londonancestor.com/views/vc-peters.htm|archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=1878marriageexample>{{cite web |url=http://interactive.ancestry.com/1768/31873_A002436-00090/16660?backurl=http://person.ancestry.com/citation/117599482927/edit/record |title=Please wait...|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126235611/http://interactive.ancestry.com/1768/31873_A002436-00090/16660?backurl=http%3A%2F%2Fperson.ancestry.com%2Fcitation%2F117599482927%2Fedit%2Frecord |archive-date=26 November 2015}}</ref> The area's Catholic church, Holy Apostles, was destroyed in the Blitz and rebuilt in 1957. The headquarters of the [[Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales]] are located in [[Eccleston Square]].

[[Tate Britain]] is located within the ward of [[Millbank, London, England|Millbank]], but is a short walk from Pimlico Underground station and is regarded as a Pimlico landmark. The district's association with fine art has been reinforced by the [[Chelsea College of Art and Design]]'s recent move to the former [[Royal Army Medical College]] next to the Tate.

[[Pimlico Academy|Pimlico School]], a comprehensive built between 1967 and 1970, was a notable example of [[Brutalist architecture]]. It was demolished in 2010.

== Notable residents ==

===Blue plaques===
*[[Aubrey Beardsley]], illustrator – lived at 114 Cambridge Street
*[[Winston Churchill|Sir Winston Churchill]], politician – lived at 33 Eccleston Square and Morpeth Terrace
*[[Joseph Conrad]], Polish-born British novelist – lived at 17 Gillingham Street
*[[Sir Michael Costa]], conductor and orchestra reformer – lived at 59 Eccleston Square
*[[Billy Hughes|William Morris 'Billy' Hughes]], 7th Prime Minister of Australia – born at 7 Moreton Place
*[[Jomo Kenyatta]], first president of Kenya – lived at 95 Cambridge Street<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/bhm_booklet.pdf  |title=Black History in Westminster |access-date=2015-04-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021112739/http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/bhm_booklet.pdf |archive-date=21 October 2014 }}</ref>
*[[Douglas Macmillan]], founder of [[Macmillan Cancer Support|Cancer Relief]] – lived at 15 Ranelagh Road<ref>{{cite book|last=Hunt|first=Timothy|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|year=2004|chapter=Macmillan, Douglas (1884–1969)}}</ref>
*[[Swami Vivekananda]], Hindu philosopher – lived briefly at 63 St George's Drive
*Major [[Walter Clopton Wingfield]], father of lawn tennis – lived at 33 St George's Square

===Others===
[[Image:ThomasCubittStatuePimlico.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Thomas Cubitt]] by [[William Fawke]] in Denbigh Street]]
*[[Nickie Aiken]], [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Cities of London and Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Cities of London and Westminster]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=About Nickie Aiken|url=https://www.nickieaiken.org.uk/about-nickie-aiken|access-date=2020-12-14|website=Nickie Aiken|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Laura Ashley]], designer – 83 Cambridge Street
*[[Wilfrid Brambell]], actor, star of ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'' – Denbigh Street<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leonardrossiter.com/risingdamp/BiogsSupp.html|title=LeonardRossiter.com: Rigby Online – Supporting Cast Biographies|work=leonardrossiter.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522095412/http://www.leonardrossiter.com/risingdamp/BiogsSupp.html|archive-date=22 May 2015}}</ref>
*[[Louisa Crow]], Victorian novelist and poet 
*[[James Crump]], founder of St Aubyn's School, Woodford Green – 86 Cambridge Street
*[[Anthony Davis (comedian)|Anthony Davis]], comedian and broadcaster
*[[Charles De Gaulle]], Free French leader and French president – Dolphin Square
*[[Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton]], First man to fly over Mount Everest – born 71 Eccleston Square{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}
*[[Isadora Duncan]], American dancer – 33 Warwick Square<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vale |first=Allison |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u60FDgAAQBAJ&q=isadora+duncan |title=A Woman Lived Here: Alternative Blue Plaques, Remembering London's Remarkable Women |date=2018-01-18 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=9781472140067 |language=en }}</ref>
*[[Bertha Jane Grundy]], novelist, died in Eccleston Square on 5 September 1912.
*[[Steve Hackett]], former [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]] guitarist
*[[William Hague]], former British Foreign Secretary
*[[Basil Harwood]], organist and composer
*[[Michael Howard]], former Conservative Party leader
*[[Arthur Foord Hughes]], artist<ref name="HC">{{cite web|url=http://friendsofhastingscemetery.org.uk/hughesaf.html|title=Hughes, Arthur Foord|publisher=Friends of Hastings Cemetery|access-date=4 January 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305084459/http://friendsofhastingscemetery.org.uk/hughesaf.html|archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref>
*[[Jeremy Hunt]], politician
*[[Rhys Ifans]], Welsh actor
*[[Luke Irvine-Capel]], [[Archdeacon of Chichester]], lived at 30 Warwick Square during his tenure as Vicar of St Gabriel's, Warwick Square (2008–2013).
*[[Catherine Johnson (playwright)|Catherine Johnson]], creator of the musical ''[[Mamma Mia! (musical)|Mamma Mia!]]''
*[[James Lennox Kerr]], Scottish socialist author
*[[Gavin MacFadyen]] (1940–2016), the director of [[WikiLeaks]] and founder of the [[Centre for Investigative Journalism]] (CIJ)
*[[Oswald Mosley]], British Union of Fascists leader – Dolphin Square
*[[Ian Nairn]], architectural critic – 14 Warwick Square
*[[Bill Nighy#cite note-46|Bill Nighy]], actor
*[[Laurence Olivier]], actor – 22 Lupus Street
*[[Barbara Pym]], writer – 108 Cambridge Street
*[[Sheila Scott]], aviator
*[[Tony Selby]], actor
*[[Pamela Colman Smith]], nicknamed Pixie, artist, illustrator, and writer
*[[Bram Stoker]], author of ''Dracula'' – died at 26 St George's Square<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/stoker/bio.html|title=Bram Stoker: A Brief Biography|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426041859/http://victorianweb.org/authors/stoker/bio.html|archive-date=26 April 2015}}</ref>
*[[Gianluca Vialli]], Italian football striker and manager
*[[Lucy Bethia Walford]], Scottish-born novelist, died on 11 May 1915 – 17 Warwick Square.<ref>ODNB entry by David Finkelstein. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41040 Retrieved 4 August 2013. Pay-walled.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924155020/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41040 |date=24 September 2015 }}</ref>
*[[Herbert William Weekes]], genre and animal painter – born in Pimlico ca. 1842
*[[Henry Weekes]], RA, Victorian era sculptor – worked at No. 2, lived at No. 96, Eccleston Street<ref name="London Past and Present">{{cite book|last = Wheatley|first = Henry B.|author2=Peter Cunningham |title = London, Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions|publisher = John Murray|year = 1891|location = Albemarle Street, London|pages = [https://archive.org/details/londonpastandpr01cunngoog/page/n188 152]|url = https://archive.org/details/londonpastandpr01cunngoog
|quote = Henry Weekes, Eccleston Street, Pimlico,.}}</ref>
*[[Paul Weller]], singer/songwriter, lived in a flat in Pimlico in the early 1980s
*[[Small Faces]], 1960s band – 22 Westmoreland Terrace

==In the arts==
Pimlico is the setting of the 1940 version of ''[[Gaslight (1940 film)|Gaslight]]''.

Post [[World War II]], Pimlico was the setting of the 1949 [[Ealing Studios|Ealing comedy]] ''[[Passport To Pimlico]]''.

In [[G. K. Chesterton]]'s ''[[Orthodoxy (book)|Orthodoxy]]'', Pimlico is used as an example of "a desperate thing."  Arguing that things are not loved because they are great but become great because they are loved, he asserts that if merely approved of, Pimlico "will remain Pimlico, which would be awful," but if "loved with a transcendental tie and without any earthly reason" it "in a year or two might be fairer than Florence."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/130/130.txt |title=Orthodoxy |author= G. K. Chesterton |author-link= G. K. Chesterton |access-date=2015-03-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924194116/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/130/130.txt |archive-date=24 September 2015 }}</ref>

[[Barbara Pym]] used [[St Gabriel's Pimlico|St Gabriel's Church]] as her inspiration for St Mary's in ''[[Excellent Women]]''.

The area is the home of [[Francis Urquhart]] in [[Michael Dobbs]]'s 1989 novel, ''[[House of Cards (UK TV series)|House of Cards]]''.

While still only partially built, the area is the abode of a criminal gang in [[Charles Palliser]]'s 1989 novel, ''[[The Quincunx]]''. They live in 'carcasses', part-built houses on which work has ceased owing to the drying-up of funds, due in turn to an involved conspiracy central to the book's convoluted plot.

[[Alexander McCall Smith]]'s on-line ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' serial novel ''Corduroy Mansions'' is set in Pimlico.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

{{Clear}}

==Education==
{{About||education in Pimlico|List of schools in the City of Westminster}}

==Transport==
[[Image:Millbank Pier, London.JPG|thumb|Riverboat services run from [[Millbank Millennium Pier]]]]

Pimlico is served by [[Pimlico tube station|Pimlico station]] on the [[Victoria line]] and [[Victoria tube station|Victoria station]] on the Victoria, [[District line|District]] and [[Circle line (London Underground)|Circle]] lines. It is also served by [[National Rail]] services to [[London Victoria Station]].
Bus routes that run centrally through Pimlico are the [[London Buses route 24|24]], [[London Buses route 360|360]] and the [[London Buses route C10|C10]]. Many more buses run along Vauxhall Bridge Road (Pimlico's eastern boundary).
Riverboat services to [[Waterloo Millennium Pier|Waterloo]] and [[Southwark]] run from [[Millbank Millennium Pier]].

The area has a dozen docking stations for the [[Santander Cycles]] scheme.

Pimlico would be connected at Victoria to the proposed [[Chelsea-Hackney line]] (Crossrail 2). Plans under consideration for the redevelopment of [[Nine Elms]] and [[Battersea Power Station]] include a pedestrian bridge stretching across the river from [[St George's Square]]; in 2015, Wandsworth council awarded [[Bystrup Architecture Design Engineering|Bystrup]] and partners the design for the £40m bridge, with spiral ramps preserving parks at both ends.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/25/public-fury-as-new-bridge-across-the-thames-announced-at-nine-elms|title=Public fury as new bridge across the Thames announced at Nine Elms|author=Oliver Wainwright|work=The Guardian|date=25 November 2015 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527044755/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/25/public-fury-as-new-bridge-across-the-thames-announced-at-nine-elms|archive-date=27 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nineelmslondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bridge-Feasibility-Summary-Final-Report.pdf |title=Nine Elms - Pimlico bridge {{!}} Feasibility study summary report |access-date=2015-12-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304234555/http://www.nineelmslondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bridge-Feasibility-Summary-Final-Report.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://legacy.london.gov.uk/mayor/planning/oapf-nine-elms/docs/oapf-nine-elms-framework-draft-nov-09-main.pdf|title=Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area Planning Framework Consultation Draft November 2009|date=November 2009|publisher=[[Greater London Authority]]|access-date=29 September 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817231026/http://legacy.london.gov.uk/mayor/planning/oapf-nine-elms/docs/oapf-nine-elms-framework-draft-nov-09-main.pdf|archive-date=17 August 2012}}</ref>

==Governance==
The area is represented on [[Westminster City Council]] by the wards of Pimlico North and Pimlico South. These all form part of the [[Cities of London and Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Cities of London and Westminster]] parliamentary constituency, currently represented by MP [[Nickie Aiken]], a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]. Of the six local councillors, three are Labour and three are Conservative. Pimlico is part of the [[West Central (London Assembly constituency)|West Central]] constituency on the [[London Assembly]], which is represented by [[James Small-Edwards]] AM.

==Location in context==

{{Geographic location
|title     = '''Neighbouring areas of London'''
|Northwest = [[Belgravia]]
|North     = [[Victoria, London|Victoria]]
|Northeast = [[Westminster]] and [[St James's]]
|West      = [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]]
|Centre    = Pimlico
|East      = [[Millbank]]
|Southwest = [[Battersea]]
|South     = [[Nine Elms]]
|Southeast = [[Vauxhall]]
}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [http://transact.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/Pimlico%20CAA%20SPG.pdf Pimlico Conservation Area Audit], [[Westminster City Council]], April 2006

== External links ==
{{Commons category multi | Pimlico | Streets in the City of Westminster | Thomas Cubitt}}

{{LB City of Westminster}}
{{Areas of London}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Pimlico| ]]
[[Category:Areas of London]]
[[Category:Districts of the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:Districts of London on the River Thames]]