A detailed 18th Century street map of Mayfair and Marylebone

HORWOOD, Richard.

[Untitled map of Mayfair & Marylebone, centred on Hanover Square.]
London: 1792-9. 570 x 525mm.

A plan of Mayfair and Marylebone from what Howgego describes as the 'largest and most important London map of the eighteenth century', on 32 sheets on a scale of 26 inches to a mile. Centred on Hanover Square, it is bissected by Oxford Street. To the south it shows St James's Church in Piccadilly bottom right, the eastern half of Grosvenor Square, Berkely Square, Golden Square, both Old and New Bond Street, and 35 St George Street; to the north is Cavendish Square, Harley Street and Wigmore Street
Horwood's intention was to mark each house's number (a practice started in 1735), but this was abandoned as impractical. He started his scheme in 1790, expecting to be finished by 1792: by 1794 he was apologising to his subscribers (including George III); in 1798 he received a loan of £500 from the Phoenix Fire-Office, for whom Horwood worked as a surveyor, to finish the map. However this assistance was not enough to stop Horwood dying in poverty in 1803.


Stock ID : 23104