Vere Street
Vere Street is a short street running north from Oxford Street into the Marylebone grid, forming a southern continuation of Welbeck Street. It carries the W1G postcode and falls within the Howard de Walden Estate, whose family name derives from the Earls of Oxford and whose connection to the land goes back to the Portland Estate that preceded it.
The street takes its name from the de Vere family, who held the earldom of Oxford, the original landowners at the time the street was first laid out. Its most significant structure is St Peter's, Vere Street, originally built in 1721 to 1724 as the Oxford Chapel, a private commission for the 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, Edward Harley. The architect was James Gibbs, who was also responsible for St Martin-in-the-Fields. The building was acquired by the Crown from the Portland Estate in 1817 and dedicated to St Peter in 1832. It remains in use today.
The Flemish-born sculptor John Michael Rysbrack, one of the most prominent sculptors working in eighteenth-century Britain, lived and died in Vere Street in 1770. His studio was responsible for portrait busts and funerary monuments found in churches and great houses across the country.
The street now contains a mix of retail and restaurant uses, reflecting its position at the edge of the Oxford Street commercial zone. Its church and Georgian street plan remain intact. Welbeck Street continues northward from its junction.
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