Piccadilly Arcade runs between Piccadilly and Jermyn Street in central London. It was opened in 1909, having been designed by Thrale Jell, and is a Grade II listed building.
The arcade is composed of twenty-eight shops on the ground floor. The first floor was originally offices, but converted to the Felix Hotel in 1915. The buildings were bombed in 1941 during World War II and not fully restored until 1957.
Jermyn Street History:
The street was created by and named after Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, as part of his development of the St James's area of central London, around the year 1664. It was first recorded as "Jarman Streete" in the 1667 rate books of St Martin's, which listed 56 properties on it. In 1675, there were 108 names listed.
Notable Residents of Jermyn Street:
Many tailors owned or still own the houses along the street and often rented out rooms to people. No. 22, Jermyn Street, for instance was once owned by Italian silk merchant Cesare Salvucci and a military tailor who rented rooms out to people such as the banker Theodore Rothschild.
The Duke of Marlborough lived there when he was Colonel Churchill, as did Isaac Newton (at No. 88, from 1696-1700; he then moved next door to No. 87, from 1700 to 1709, during which time he worked as Warden of the Mint), the mid-18th century highwayman and apothecary William Plunkett, the Duchess of Richmond, the Countess of Northumberland and the artist John Keyse Sherwin (in whose rooms in 1782 the actress Sarah Siddons sat for him for her portrait as "Euphrasia).
The Gun Tavern was one of the great resorts for foreigners of revolutionary tastes during the end of the 18th century, whilst Grenier's Hotel was patronised by French refugees. At the Brunswick Hotel, Louis Napoleon took up his residence under the assumed name of Count D'Arenberg on his escape from captivity in the fortress of Ham. Twentieth-century residents included the 1930s 'big band' singer Al Bowlly (killed in his flat on the street by a parachute mine during the Blitz in 1941).
Though he did not live there, a statue of the dandy Beau Brummell stands on Jermyn Street at its junction with Piccadilly Arcade, as embodying its elegant clothing values. Aleister Crowley lived in No. 93 during the Second World War up until 1 April. It was through Crowley that Nancy Cunard resided in a flat in Jermyn Street.