The Quiet Revolution
- Restoration to Regency
- The Era of Empire and War
- The Blitz
- Swinging London
- A Cultural Shift
- The Quiet Revolution
View across Bryanston Square
In spite of successive governments, rent acts, Estate duties and capital transfer taxes, leasehold enfranchisement and town and country planning acts, the geography of central London west of the City is still recognisably the same as it has been for a number of centuries
One reason why the Great London Estates have survived is that they have learned to manage their London property in a more commercial, pro-active manner. Instead of being observers of their fate they have become participants in their future.
Fortunately for the Estate, 200 years after the irrepressible leadership of Edward Berkeley Portman, those qualities are now being replicated by the present Viscount Portman.
The success of the magnificently refurbished Home House in attracting that new social group ‘the digerati’ to Portman Square is one example of this is one example of this process. In the summer of 1999, the house built by Robert Adam hosted a party for First Tuesday - a group that brought technology idealists together with venture capitalism.
Standing on the shoulders of giants, the Estate has never been in a better position to fulfil its ambitions. Building on its achievements and continuing to invest in both its workforce and its property, the Portman Estate is aiming at the long-term, but then after all, that’s what has enabled the Estate to survive for so long.
With thanks to Conrad Keating