West Square has the following entry in Volume XXV of the Survey of London, published in 1955 by the then London County Council. In the 1800s, the square was used to house some staff at the Bethlehem Royal Hospital. In addition, there were Steward's Quarters in the north-east corner of the Hospital grounds. King Edward's Schools occupied the eastern side, together with an area of drying posts. The whole eastern side of the old Hospital grounds is now given over to sports facilities. J. A. R. Newlands, the Victorian chemist who discovered the Periodic Law for the chemical elements, was born and raised in No. 19. A blue plaque, installed by the Royal Society of Chemistry, commemorates Newlands on the front of the house. In 1884–5, the Charlotte Sharman School was built on the north-west side, named after its founder, a Christian philanthropist. Construction of the school — which is still located there — required the demolition of some thirty houses. Part of the site is now occupied by the Siobhan Davies Dance Centre As a young child, Charlie Chaplin lived at 39 West Square for a short period. He later recalled: At the end of the 19th century, the garden in the square was threatened with building development, but there was a campaign to keep it. In 1909, the freehold was bought for some £4000 by the London County Council and the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark. They enlarged and restored the garden, which was then opened for public use in 1910. The square was scheduled to protect it under the 1931 London Squares Preservation Act. However, after the Second World War, it was proposed that the buildings should be demolished and the area added to Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park. This was blocked by the Civic Amenities Act and instead the square became a conservation area. The terrace of five houses in the north-west corner of the square were demolished c1970, and replaced by modern town houses designed to blend in with the original Georgian architecture. The west side of the square was also much-altered, with pairs of houses being run together to create four lateral flats in each property. In 1997–8, and with the exception of numbers 10 and 11, the terrace was reconverted to single houses. Overall, the square remains largely intact and of historic interest, a fact reflected in the 1972 Grade II listing of the east, south and wide sides.
