This neighbourhood is part of the tourist hub of Westminster, bordering Buckingham Palace Gardens and St James’s Park. With just a handful of attractive Victorian properties and Edwardian Mansion blocks, the area is mainly populated by commercial buildings, offices and shopping centres. It is also home to the Curzon Cinema and the South Korean Embassy. Besides the sprawling parks to its north, the area supports a few smaller green squares that become popular summer lunch break spots for the locality’s many workers, large numbers of whom travel to their places of work via the fantastic local transport hubs of Victoria and St. James’s Park stations. For those who travel to the area by road, the busy Buckingham Gate road is also crossed by numerous convenient bus routes.

Formerly an area of marshland through which the River Tyburn flowed from Eton College, the region was purchased by Henry VIII in 1532. When James I took the throne in 1603, he ordered for the land to be drained and landscaped into what was to become St James’s Park. Charles II had the park redesigned after being inspired by the elaborate royal gardens at French palaces. He opened the park to the public, along with the introduction of cows, which produced milk for the local population. Further remodelling took place in 1826-7 under the Prince Regent, which was overseen by John Nash, transforming the park into that which we know it to be today. The St James’s Park station was opened in 1868, which encouraged more tourism to the area.

During the reign of Charles II, exotic animals were introduced to the park, and these included camels, crocodiles, elephants and birds of paradise.

Due to its central location, the area is often busy with tourists and traffic. The busy main roads nearby contribute to much of Westminster’s high pollution levels.

The designated ‘Opportunity Area’ of Victoria also includes this neighbourhood. Laid out in the Mayor’s London Plan, the area has already seen a number of transformations in the past years and is still considered to have the potential for 1,000 new homes and 4,000 new jobs by 2041. The Victoria area’s importance can be attributed to its great transport links, which make it perfect for commercial and residential growth. It was recently announced that the main Victoria station will be receiving a £30 million upgrade, intended to start work on enhancing its capacity and improving its accessibility. More ticket barriers will be placed and the halls expanded to accommodate the increased number of users and passengers the station is now serving. Food halls and outlets will be removed but new outlets will be constructed on platform level elsewhere to compensate. In addition, newer developments have already been completed adjacent to the station, to provide more office, retail and commercial, as well as residential space.

Victoria Nova, which was completed in 2017 and strategically located beside the station, is expecting another building to be added to the block, as part of owner Land Securities’ n2 scheme. The Nova development as a whole is set across 897,000 sq ft. and three buildings – Nova North, Nova South and The Nova Building. Nova Food, which is two minutes from Victoria station, features 17 restaurants and three pop-up kiosks. The n2 scheme will be the next addition in the Nova portfolio, with office space with a terrace on each floor, opening-up the public realm and connecting Nova to Cardinal Place.