Where Virginia Woolf Lived in London – Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain

25 January 1882 to May 1904
22 Hyde Park Gate, W8
Blue plaque (erected 1960): SIR | LESLIE | STEPHEN | 1832-1904 | Scholar | and writer | lived here
January 1905 to March 1907
46 Gordon Square, WC1
Blue plaque (erected 1975): JOHN | MAYNARD | KEYNES | 1883-1946 | Economist | lived here | 1916-1946
April 1907 to November 1911
29 Fitzroy Square, W1
Blue plaque: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW | LIVED IN THIS HOUSE | FROM 1887 TO 1898 | | “FROM THE COFFERS OF HIS GENIUS | HE ENRICHED THE WORLD Blue plaque (erected 1974): Virginia | Stephen | (VIRGINIA WOOLF) | 1882-1941 | Novelist and Critic | lived here | 1907-1911
20 November 1911 to 29 October 1912
38 Brunswick Square, WC1
North side of square: demolished in about 1936 and replaced by the School of Pharmacy of the University of London
30 October 1912 to September 1913
13 Clifford’s Inn, between Chancery Lane, WC2, and Fetter Lane, EC4
Demolished in 1934 and replaced by offices and flats also called Clifford’s Inn
16 October 1914 to 25 March 1915
17 The Green, Richmond upon Thames, Surrey
1 April 1915 to 13 March 1924
Hogarth House (right-hand side of the building; the Woolfs bought the whole building in December 1919), Richmond upon Thames, Surrey
Blue plaque: In this house | LEONARD and | VIRGINIA WOOLF | lived | 1915-1924 | and founded the | Hogarth Press | 1917
15 March 1924 to August 1939
52 Tavistock Square, WC1
South side of square: bombed in October 1940 and replaced by the Tavistock Hotel in 1951
13 October 1939 to 27 August 1940
37 Mecklenburgh Square, WC1
North side of square: bombed in 1940 and replaced by William Goodenough House in 1957

Other plaques relevant to the Bloomsbury Group
50 Gordon Square, WC1
Brown plaque (London Borough of Camden): HERE AND | IN NEIGHBOURING | HOUSES DURING | THE FIRST HALF OF | THE 20th CENTURY | THERE LIVED SEVERAL | MEMBERS OF THE | BLOOMSBURY GROUP | INCLUDING | VIRGINIA WOOLF | CLIVE BELL AND | THE STRACHEYS
51 Gordon Square, WC1
Blue plaque (erected 1971 – see Holroyd): LYTTON | STRACHEY | 1880-1932 | Critic and | Biographer | lived here
Thornhaugh Street (23-24 Russell Square), WC1
Brown plaque (London Borough of Camden): T. S. | ELIOT | POET AND | PUBLISHER | WORKED HERE FOR | FABER & FABER | 1925-1965
10 Gower Street, WC1
Blue plaque: LADY | OTTOLINE | MORRELL | 1873-1938 | Literary Hostess | and | Patron of the Arts | lived here
11 Edwardes Square, W8
Blue plaque (erected 1956 by private subscribers): THIS | WAS THE | LONDON HOME | OF | G. LOWES DICKINSON | Author and Humanist. | HE WAS BORN 1862 | AND DIED | 1932.
9 Arlington Park Mansions, Turnham Green Terrace, W4
Blue plaque: E.M. | FORSTER | 1879-1970 | Novelist | lived here
182 Ebury Street, SW1
Brown plaque (erected 1993 – see Anon.): HAROLD | NICOLSON | 1886-1968 | VITA SACKVILLE-WEST | 1892-1962 | Writers and Gardeners | lived here
32 Elder Street, E1
Blue plaque (erected 1964): MARK | GERTLER | 1891-1939 | Painter | lived here
17 East Heath Road, NW3
Blue plaque (erected 1969): KATHERINE | MANSFIELD | 1888-1923 | WRITER, | and her husband | JOHN MIDDLETON | MURRY | 1889-1957 | CRITIC | lived here

A note on blue plaques

English Heritage is now responsible for the (usually) blue plaques previously erected by the Greater London Council (1965-1986), the London County Council (1903-1965) and the Royal Society of Arts (1875-1900). The criteria for the erection of plaques have changed over the years, but I believe the following summary is still correct. For a plaque to be associated with a person, his/her name must be known to the well-informed passer-by, but no plaque will be erected until a person has been dead for 20 years or until the centenary of their birth (whichever is the earlier) and plaques will not be erected on the sites of former houses.

Stuart N. Clarke
August 1999

References

• Anon, ‘Plaque Tribute to a Most Unconventional Novelist Evening Standard, 29 March 1993.

• Clarke, Jennifer (photographs by Joanna Parkin), In Our Grandmother’s Footsteps: A Virago Guide to London, Virago, London, 1984.

• GLC Public Information Branch, Blue Plaques on Houses of Historical Interest, London, n.d. (c. 1976).

• Holroyd, Michael, ‘A Plaque on All Your Houses!, Unreceived Opinions, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1976, pp. 42-6.

• Palis, L. M., The Blue Plaques of London, Equation (Thorsons Publishing Group), Wellingborough, Northants, 1989.

• Wilson, Jean Moorcroft, Virginia Woolf: Life and London: A Biography of Place, Cecil Woolf, London, 1987.

Other plaques relevant to the Bloomsbury Group

References