Bedford Estate

It was replaced by a wide avenue, Bedford Place, leading north to the large Russell Square, with Montague Street running parallel to the west.

John Russell was also responsible for the building of the Covent Garden Market to the south of the main estate.

The sale contract for Covent Garden was signed in 1914 and finalised with Sir Thomas Beecham (1879–1961) in 1918.

The British Museum and the University of London replaced large parts of the estate and the remnants are owned by The Bedford Estates,[5] mainly residential property that has been converted for office and hotel use, together with private residential property.

[2] The company is the largest private landowner in Bloomsbury and is managed from the Bedford Office in Montague Street, within the estate.

Entrance to the Bedford Estate office in Montague Street
Looking north across Bloomsbury Square on the Bedford Estate with Bedford House behind, c. 1725, London town house of the Dukes of Bedford
Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford , statue by Richard Westmacott in Russell Square on the Bedford Estate
John Norden 's map of 1593 map, showing the Bedford Covent Garden Estate not long after it was acquired by John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (c. 1485–1554/55), granted by King Henry VIII after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540