Old Quebec Street
Old Quebec Street is a narrow street in Marylebone connecting the south side of Seymour Street with Oxford Street, running parallel to Cumberland Place in the W1H postal area. It is part of the Portman Estate, whose freeholding of this corner of Marylebone dates to Sir William Portman's acquisition of the Manor of Lileston in 1532.
Building leases for Old Quebec Street were first granted in 1759, the year General James Wolfe led British forces to victory at the Battle of Quebec, and the name directly commemorates that event. It is therefore among the earlier streets laid out on the Portman Estate as development spread northwards from Oxford Street. The nearby Portman Square, begun in the 1760s, was the focal point of this expansion.
In the later nineteenth century the street had a welfare function: the Old Quebec Street Home for Girls, operated by the Waifs and Strays Society, opened at No. 14 in 1882 and closed in 1896 following the opening of a replacement home in Dorset Square. Today the street is primarily residential in character, with period buildings maintained under the estate's management. Its compact scale reflects the Portman Estate's preference for well-proportioned streets rather than speculative ribbon development.
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