Surrey Square

Surrey Square stands as the most significant surviving piece of Georgian architecture in the Walworth area. Designed by architect Michael Searles and built between 1793 and 1794, the square was originally intended to be a grand, upmarket residential development for London’s expanding population. The project was never fully completed as a traditional square, leaving an oblong of open ground that has evolved significantly over the last two centuries. Among its early residents was the famous visionary painter Samuel Palmer, who was born in a house here in 1805. While the original architectural vision was only partially realized, eighteen of the terrace houses from the late eighteenth century still stand today, serving as a rare, refined contrast to the surrounding urban landscape.