Dean Street is a street in Soho, central London, running from Oxford Street south to Shaftesbury Avenue. It crosses Old Compton Street and is linked to Frith Street by Bateman Street.
History
Origins
Dean Street was built in 1681 in what was then open countryside; the designation Soho has been attributed to
So-ho! a hare-hunting cry mentioned in Shakespeare. At first the new residential area attracted the aristocracy, but waves of refugees came and by 1711 almost half the parish was French. According to Nick Black "Soho is the best preserved area of London. Its street pattern has hardly altered in 300 years".
Political residents
The French revolutionary Jacques Pierre Brissot for a time lived in poverty in Dean Street.
Later, so did Karl Marx. Early drafts of The Communist Manifesto were presented for discussion at Dean Street's Golden Lion pub by Marx and Engels.
A blue plaque at No. 28 commemorates his residence there during 1851-1856.
Alessandro Marocco, a central Anarchism during the early years of illegalism and a member of the Intransigents of London and Paris, opened an umbrella shop at 160, Dean Street. This shop likely served as a place for him to fence goods stolen by illegalists during the 1880s and 1890s on the European continent. It was therefore likely a central hub for the early illegalists.
The French House at 39 Dean Street was, during World War II, the reputed headquarters of the French Resistance; it was then called the York Minster. General Charles de Gaulle is said to have composed his rallying speech "À tous les Français" there.
Medicine
As the nobility started to leave the area it attracted enterprising medical professionals. By 1821 Soho had three private schools of anatomy.
The last of the (places where people were hospitalised for venereal disease - they were the successors to the medieval leper or lazar houses) was in Dean Street. At first located in a house, a purpose-built institution was erected in 1912. The façade remains. Writing to the British Medical Journal in 1908, a doctor said:
Parish Church
The parish church, St Anne's Church, Soho, is in Dean Street, and was consecrated in 1686. In 1892 its churchyard was dedicated as a public garden. There is buried
William Hazlitt, as is the bankrupt King Theodore of Corsica, with this incription:
Culture
The
Soho Theatre presents new plays and stand-up comedy. The
Gargoyle Club ran for 27 years in the upper floors at number 69,
a site that also housed the nightclub Billy's in its cellars during the late 1970s, when it was associated with the
New Romanticism movement.
Fire
On 10 July 2009 a fire broke out on Dean Street. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries but nobody else was hurt. The building that caught fire was gutted.
Intersections
From north to south:
-
Oxford Street – terminates
-
Carlisle Street
-
St Anne's Court
-
Richmond Buildings (leading to Richmond Mews)
-
Chapone Place
-
Bateman Street
-
Meard Street
-
Bourchier Street
-
Old Compton Street
-
Romilly Street
-
Shaftesbury Avenue – terminates
External links
Bibliography
