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Soho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, whose statue stands in the square. At the centre of the garden, there is a distinctive half-timbered gardener's hut. During the summer, Soho Square hosts open-air free concerts. ==History== Built in the late 1670s, Soho Square was in its early years one of the most fashionable places to live in London. It was originally called King's Square, for King Charles II. A statue of Charles II was carved by Danish sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber in 1681 and placed at the centre of the Square. By the early 19th century, the statue was described as being 'in a most wretched mutilated state; and the inscriptions on the base of the pedestal quite illegible'.〔("Soho Square Area: Portland Estate: Soho Square Garden" ) in ''Survey of London'' volumes 33 and 34 (1966) St Anne Soho, pp. 51–53. Date accessed: 12 January 2008.〕 In 1875, it was removed during alterations in the square by T. Blackwell, of Crosse and Blackwell, the condiment firm, who gave it for safekeeping to his friend, artist Frederick Goodall, with the intention that it might be restored.〔 Goodall placed the statue on an island in his lake at Grim's Dyke, where it remained when dramatist W. S. Gilbert purchased the property in 1890, and there it stayed after Gilbert's death in 1911. In her will, Lady Gilbert directed that the statue be returned, and it was restored to Soho Square in 1938.〔(Photo of the statue )〕 Between 1778 and 1801 the Square was home to the infamous White House brothel. In 1862 charity The House of St Barnabas moved around the corner from Rose Street to 1 Greek Street where it still resides today. Wilfrid Voynich had his antiquarian bookshop at no. 1 Soho Square from 1902. The publisher Rupert Hart-Davis was at no. 36 from about 1947. Fauconberg House was on the north side of the square until its demolition in 1924. Two of the original houses, nos. 10 and 15, still stand. At nos. 8 and 9 is the French Protestant Church, built in 1891–3. Number 22 was home to ''British Movietone'' and Kay (West End) Film Laboratories, having been re-built to its current form between 1913 and 1914. For almost forty years, beginning in 1955, Soho Square housed the official headquarters of world-renowned animator Richard Williams. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Soho Square」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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