Norfolk Street, Strand


Norfolk Street in the City of Westminster, London, ran from Strand in the north to the edge of the River Thames in the south, and after the Victoria Embankment was built, to what is now Temple Place. It was crossed only by Howard Street. It was demolished in the 1970s.

History

Norfolk Street was built on land once occupied by Arundel House and its gardens, the property of the Howard family, Dukes of Norfolk. Norfolk Street and its neighbouring streets, Arundel, Howard, and Surrey, were all built after Arundel House was demolished by the earl of Arundel in 1678.
The Norfolk Street tube station was planned for the street in 1902, but never built.
Norfolk Street and Howard Street were demolished in the 1970s in order to build Arundel Great Court which was itself sold for redevelopment in 2012.

Buildings

Amberley House, office of the Ecclesiastical Association, was at numbers 11 to 12 on the south-west corner with Norfolk Street.
Hastings House at number 10 had literary connections, being home to the Women Writers' Club from 1894, and the place from which the early literary agent A. P. Watt practised. The Middle Classes Defence Organization was also based in the building.

Oswaldestre House

Oswaldestre House at 33–35 Norfolk Street was associated with engineering and radio technology. The name refers to the subsidiary title Baron Oswaldestre of the Dukes of Norfolk. The Engineer newspaper was based there and the building was also the registered address of a large number of consulting engineers, such as Henry Metcalfe Hobart. The Western Electric Company had an early radio station on the third floor of the building in 1922.

Former inhabitants

Former inhabitants of Norfolk Street include: