New Cavendish Street is one of the longer east-west streets in Marylebone, running from Marylebone High Street in the west to Cleveland Street in the east, passing through W1G and W1W postcodes. It was built in 1775 and named after the Cavendish family, who were connected to the ground landlords, the Dukes of Portland. The Cavendish-Harley Estate had passed into Portland hands in 1734 when Margaret Cavendish Harley married William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland.
The street contains several buildings of architectural significance. Nos. 61 and 63 New Cavendish Street are a pair of Grade II* listed terraced town houses built between 1775 and 1777, originally planned by Robert and James Adam on the Duke of Portland's estate, though eventually executed by neo-classical architect John Johnson. No. 63 has since been redeveloped as Asia House. No. 61 was the former home of Alfred Waterhouse, the architect responsible for the Natural History Museum. Marylebone High Street meets the street at its western end.
In 1960, the Polytechnic of Central London established a science and engineering campus on New Cavendish Street, adding an academic dimension to what had been predominantly residential and professional territory. Today the street holds a mixed character across its considerable length, with medical practices, academic buildings, and residential conversions sitting alongside one another in the Portland Estate's Georgian terrace framework.
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