Harley Street runs nearly a mile through the heart of eastern Marylebone, from Cavendish Square in the south to Marylebone Road in the north. Entirely within the Howard de Walden Estate, it carries a W1G postcode and is among the most recognised street names in the world, synonymous with private medical practice in Britain.
The street takes its name from Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford, who inherited the Marylebone estate through his wife Henrietta Cavendish Holles in 1711 and began laying out the grid of streets around Cavendish Square from around 1715. Georgian terraces filled the street by the 1790s, initially attracting the aristocracy, senior clergy, and military officers. The shift toward medical occupancy began from the 1840s onward, when spacious houses proved well-suited to combining a consulting room and private residence. Numbers grew steadily: approximately 20 practitioners by 1860, around 200 by 1914, and over 1,500 by 1948. The nearby Royal Society of Medicine, which opened in 1912, consolidated the area's reputation as a centre of medical excellence.
Today the Howard de Walden Estate carefully manages leases to maintain the street's medical character. The Harley Street Health District now encompasses the surrounding streets, including Welbeck Street and Devonshire Place, and collectively represents one of the most concentrated clusters of specialist medical practice in the world.
The Marylebone Gazette
Delivered weekly to your inbox
Join 12,000+ Marylebone insiders