# Pont Street > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Pont_Street > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Pont_Street.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Street > Source revision: 1338824108 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Street in Knightsbridge/Belgravia, London}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}} {{Use British English|date=June 2015}} [[File:SIR GEORGE ALEXANDER - 57 Pont Street Chelsea London SW1X 0BD.jpg|thumb|View centred on no. 57, Pont Street, showing [Pont Street Dutch](/source/Pont_Street_Dutch) houses]] '''Pont Street''' is a fashionable street in the [Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea](/source/Royal_Borough_of_Kensington_and_Chelsea), [London](/source/central_London), traversing the areas of [Knightsbridge](/source/Knightsbridge) and [Belgravia](/source/Belgravia). The street is not far from the [Knightsbridge](/source/Knightsbridge) department store [Harrods](/source/Harrods) to its north-west. The street crosses [Sloane Street](/source/Sloane_Street) in the middle, with [Beauchamp Place](/source/Beauchamp_Place) to the west and [Cadogan Place](/source/Cadogan_Place), and [Chesham Place](/source/Chesham_Place), to the east, eventually leading to [Belgrave Square](/source/Belgrave_Square). On the west side, [Hans Place](/source/Hans_Place) leads off the street to the north and [Cadogan Square](/source/Cadogan_Square) to the south. ==History== [[File:Blue plaque Lillie Langtry.jpg|left|thumb|[Blue plaque](/source/Blue_plaque) commemorating the actress [Lillie Langtry](/source/Lillie_Langtry) in Pont Street]] [[File:London 21 Pont Street.jpg|right|thumb|upright|21 Pont Street, home of [Lillie Langtry](/source/Lillie_Langtry)]] The actress [Lillie Langtry](/source/Lillie_Langtry) (1852–1929) lived from 1892 to 1897 at 21 Pont Street, marked with a [blue plaque](/source/blue_plaque) in 1980. The building became part of the [Cadogan Hotel](/source/Cadogan_Hotel) in 1895, but she still stayed in her old bedroom even after this. [Oscar Wilde](/source/Oscar_Wilde) was arrested in room number 118 of the Cadogan Hotel on 6 April 1895.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000378/18950406/022/0005 |url-access=subscription |title=The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel |date=6 April 1895 |newspaper=[Hartlepool Mail](/source/Hartlepool_Mail) |access-date=15 May 2021}} Via {{cite web |title=The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel – 6 April 1895 |url=https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2013/04/05/the-arrest-of-oscar-wilde-at-the-cadogan-hotel-6-april-1895/ |website=[British Newspaper Archive](/source/British_Newspaper_Archive) |date=5 April 2013 |access-date=27 November 2018 |archive-date=27 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127194250/https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2013/04/05/the-arrest-of-oscar-wilde-at-the-cadogan-hotel-6-april-1895/ |url-status=live}} Field Marshal [William Nicholson, 1st Baron Nicholson](/source/William_Nicholson%2C_1st_Baron_Nicholson) died at 15 Pont Street in 1918.{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35232|title=William Nicholson, 1st Baron Nicholson|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35232 |access-date=18 February 2012|last1=Moreman |first1=T. R. }} Politician [Harry Crookshank](/source/Harry_Crookshank) (1893–1961) lived from 1937 until his death at 51 Pont Street.{{cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 14|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=402}}Article by S. J. Ball. [[File:StColumbasLondon.JPG|thumb|right|upright|[St Columba's Church](/source/St_Columba's_Church%2C_London)]] [St Columba's Church](/source/St_Columba's_Church%2C_London) in Pont Street was designed in the 1950s by the architect [Sir Edward Maufe](/source/Edward_Maufe) (1883–1974), who also designed the brick [Guildford Cathedral](/source/Guildford_Cathedral). It is one of the two London congregations of the [Church of Scotland](/source/Church_of_Scotland). The original St Columba's Church building of 1884 was destroyed during the [Blitz](/source/The_Blitz) of [World War II](/source/World_War_II) on the night of 10 May 1941. Portmeirion was an antiques shop in Pont Street, established by Sam Beazley and Adrienne Barker. It was named after the [village of that name](/source/Portmeirion) in north Wales because of Beazley's family connection to the village. The shop later became the headquarters of [Portmeirion Pottery](/source/Portmeirion_Pottery). A section of railing from the [Liverpool Sailors' Home](/source/Liverpool_Sailors'_Home) was installed outside the shop by [Clough Williams-Ellis](/source/Clough_Williams-Ellis). The [Challoner Club](/source/Challoner_Club), an exclusively Catholic [gentleman's club](/source/gentleman's_club), was based at 59 Pont Street from 1949 to 1997.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kelly-clan.com/research/gettingstarted.htm |title=The History of Heraldry |access-date=17 March 2012 |archive-date=1 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061101185720/http://www.kelly-clan.com/research/gettingstarted.htm |url-status=dead }} A restaurant called [Drones](/source/Drones_Club) is located at 1 Pont Street (not to be confused with the fictional [Drones Club](/source/Drones_Club) of [P. G. Wodehouse](/source/P._G._Wodehouse)). ==Pont Street Dutch== "[Pont Street Dutch](/source/Pont_Street_Dutch)", a term coined by [Osbert Lancaster](/source/Osbert_Lancaster), is the architectural style typified by the large red brick gabled houses built in the 1880s in Pont Street.{{cite book |last=Lancaster |first=Osbert |author-link=Osbert Lancaster |year=1938 |title=[Pillar to Post](/source/Pillar_to_Post): the pocket lamp of architecture |location=London |publisher=John Murray |page=54 }} [Nikolaus Pevsner](/source/Nikolaus_Pevsner) writes of the style as "tall, sparingly decorated red brick mansions for very wealthy occupants, in the semi-[Dutch](/source/Dutch_Baroque_architecture), semi-[Queen-Anne](/source/Queen_Anne_Revival_architecture_in_the_United_Kingdom) style of [Shaw](/source/Richard_Norman_Shaw) or [George](/source/Ernest_George) & [Peto](/source/Harold_Peto)".{{cite book |first=Nikolaus |last=Pevsner |author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner |title=London except the Cities of London and Westminster |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1952 |series=[Buildings of England](/source/Buildings_of_England) |page=100 }} ==Transport== The nearest tube stations are [Knightsbridge](/source/Knightsbridge_tube_station) to the north and [Sloane Square](/source/Sloane_Square_tube_station) to the south. ==Literary references== *In [Agatha Christie](/source/Agatha_Christie)'s ''[The Secret of Chimneys](/source/The_Secret_of_Chimneys)'' (1925), the character Virginia Revel lives on Pont Street. *In [John Betjeman](/source/John_Betjeman)'s poem, "The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel" (1937), the second stanza describes Wilde in 1895 gazing out of his hotel window:
To the right and before him Pont Street Did tower in her new built red, As hard as the morning gaslight That shone on his unmade bed.
* In [P. G. Wodehouse](/source/P._G._Wodehouse)'s ''[The Code of the Woosters](/source/The_Code_of_the_Woosters)'' (1938), Mrs. Wintergreen, widow of the late Colonel H. H. Wintergreen and fiancée of [Sir Watkyn Bassett](/source/Sir_Watkyn_Bassett), lives in Pont Street. * In [Evelyn Waugh](/source/Evelyn_Waugh)'s novel ''[Brideshead Revisited](/source/Brideshead_Revisited)'' (1945), "Pont Street" is a shorthand term for a particular upper class subculture. The character Julia and her friends say that "it was 'Pont Street' to wear a signet ring and to give chocolates at the theatre; it was 'Pont Street' at a dance to say, 'Can I forage for you?'". * In [Nancy Mitford](/source/Nancy_Mitford)'s ''[Love in a Cold Climate](/source/Love_in_a_Cold_Climate)'' (1949), the heroine's aunt, who is bringing her up to mix in the best society, is said to "keep her nose firmly to Pont Street". ==References== {{reflist}} == External links == {{commons category inline|Pont Street}} {{coord|51.49702|N|0.16019|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title|format=dms}} Category:Knightsbridge Category:Streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Category:Belgravia --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Pont Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Street) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Street?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.