Park Lane is about three quarters of a mile (1.2 km) in length, and runs north from Hyde Park Corner to Marble Arch, along the length of the eastern flank of Hyde Park. To the east of the road is Mayfair.
Originally a country lane running north-south along what is now the eastern boundary of Hyde Park, it became a fashionable residential address from the eighteenth century onwards, offering both views across Hyde Park and a position at the most fashionable western edge of London.
It became lined with some of the largest privately owned mansions in London, including the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor House and the Holford family's Dorchester House (demolished in 1929 and replaced by 1931 with The Dorchester), which are now both hotels, and the Marquess of Londonderry's Londonderry House, which has been demolished.
On a corner with Oxford Street, Somerset House (No. 40), built in 1769-70, was successively the town house of Warren Hastings, a former Governor-General of India, the third Earl of Rosebery, and the Dukes of Somerset.
In the 1960s the Lane was widened to three lanes each way either side of a central reservation. This required the demolition of a number of houses at Hyde Park Corner which had previously formed a line east of Apsley House in Piccadilly. It also meant claiming land previously in Hyde Park to make room for the multi-lane carriageway. The result was substantially to diminish the appeal of Park Lane as a residential address, since it became one of the busiest and noisiest roads in central London, retaining little or none of the pastoral atmosphere that once made it popular. The widening of the road distanced the houses on the east side of Park Lane from Hyde Park itself, access to which is now by underpass.
At the south end of Park Lane, on the west side, gates in honour of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (widow of George VI) have been erected, bearing motifs in a freely modern interpretation from her coat of arms.
Despite the traffic noise the road is still upmarket, featuring five-star hotels (such as The Dorchester, Grosvenor House Hotel and InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel) and showrooms for several makes of sports car.
See the following detail documents:
Marble Arch
Speakers Corner
Marriot Park Lane
Marriot Grosvenor House
Joy of Life Fountain
The Dorchester
The Hilton on Park lane
Theo Randall
Galvin at Windows
The InterContinental London
Wellington Arch
Apsley House
Hyde Park
Tube Route
London Bridge (Northern Line: Northbound via Bank) zone: 1
Bank (Change for Central Line: Westbound to Ealing Broadway or West Ruislip) zone: 1
St. Paul's
Chancery Lane
Holborn
Tottenham Court Road
Oxford Circus
Bond Street
Marble Arch zone: 1
Time: 23 mins via 8 stations, 1 change, zone 1
Tube Route
Marble Arch (Central Line: Eastbound to Epping) zone: 1
Bond Street (Change for Jubilee Line: Eastbound to Stratford) zone: 1
Green Park
Westminster
Waterloo
Southwark
London Bridge zone: 1
Time: 23 mins via 6 stations, 1 change, zone 1
It is proposed to get the tube to Marble Arch station and walk up Park Lane to Hyde Park Corner. We can use the subway to cross the road to look at the Joy of Life fountain in Hyde Park and then go back across to Park Lane. Have lunch at Theo Randall's at the Hilton on Park Lane? ( While there we can inspect Galvin's at Windows and decide if we want to return for an evening meal. ) The to the Wellington Arch and Apsley House in the afternoon and returning to Marble Arch Station via a walk through Hyde Park to catch the tube back to London Bridge Station.
Doug rates this as an easy day.