Torrington Square

Torrington Square began its life as a classic Regency-era residential development, built between eighteen twenty-one and eighteen twenty-eight on land owned by the Bedford Estate. Developers James Sim and his family designed the square with rows of uniform, four-story townhouses meant to attract the London gentry. The name honors George Byng, the fourth Viscount Torrington, who was the father-in-law of the sixth Duke of Bedford. While many of London's squares are shaped like open parks, this site was actually a long, narrow rectangle that functioned as a private garden enclosure for the residents of those surrounding houses.