Upper John Street

Upper John Street is a short street on the western side of Golden Square, one of the four approaches laid out when the square was created in the late seventeenth century. It runs north towards Beak Street, the road formerly known as Silver Street.

The street takes its name from John Emlyn, a bricklayer and joint owner with carpenter James Axtell of the ground known as Gelding Close when the licence to build was granted in 1673. The pair divided the land, and the John Streets carry Emlyn's name while the James Streets opposite recall his partner. At the partition of 1675 the ground on the west side of Upper John Street passed to James Axtell, and from 1683 the brickmaker Richard Tyler undertook its development under a long lease from Martha Axtell, raising seven houses with sub-leases to builders including John Bunce, Rice Williams and Abraham Morison.

Golden Square drew aristocrats, gentry and foreign envoys in its early years, and the surgeon John Hunter lived nearby; a plaque on Upper John Street records the connection. During the nineteenth century the area became a centre of the wool and worsted trade, and many of the original houses were replaced by larger warehouses and offices.

The street remains a calm office address a few paces from the square.