Devonshire Street runs east to west through the northern reaches of the Howard de Walden Estate, sitting within the W1G postal district between Great Portland Street and Wimpole Street. It takes its name from Dorothy Cavendish, daughter of the 4th Duke of Devonshire, who became Duchess of Portland, linking the street to the succession of aristocratic families who shaped this quarter of Marylebone across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The street's medical associations run deep. In 1893 the National Dental Hospital opened new premises on the corner of Devonshire Street and Great Portland Street, the building funded in its entirety by Lucy Cavendish Scott, Dowager Lady Howard de Walden, cementing the family's philanthropic relationship with the neighbourhood. That connection to medical practice has endured; the street today sits at the edge of the broader Harley Street consulting district, and several of its buildings house specialist practitioners.
The streetscape is predominantly Georgian and early Victorian in character, consistent with the Howard de Walden Estate's careful stewardship of its 92 acres. Properties along Devonshire Street include a mix of converted offices and consulting suites, with residential use towards the western end. The Howard de Walden Estate remains the freehold owner and continues to manage the fabric of the street, as it has done since the Portland family first laid out this part of Marylebone in the late eighteenth century.
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