Dufour's Place

Dufour's Place is a short turning just off Broadwick Street in the western part of Soho, close to Marshall Street and the Carnaby Street area. It began in the early eighteenth century as Dufour's Court, a passage of modest houses built during the development of this part of the parish.

The court was completed in 1736, when six houses were put up on the west side of the passage, on land that formed part of an adjoining estate belonging to Lord Craven. They followed closely on the heels of six houses raised in 1722-23 in Broad Street, now Broadwick Street, to the south. A surviving photograph showed that No. 7 Dufour's Place was almost identical to those Broadwick Street houses, differing mainly in having three storeys and a garret.

The southern end of the original court was later taken by the Marshall Street Baths, built over the sites of Nos. 7-10. Behind the place, the early Poland Street workhouse structure still stands and can be seen from here. Today Dufour's Place mixes office and small commercial use, a compact street set back from Broadwick Street.