Endell Street was laid out in 1843-6 as part of the street improvements planned in 1839 consequent on the construction of Waterloo Bridge. The aim was to create links between Covent Garden and the West Strand and New Oxford Street and Bloomsbury where Smirke’s huge Grecian British Museum was being completed in a seeming back street. The new streets were planned by James Pennethorne, John Nash’s son-in-law, and the spirit of Nash’s Regency Metropolitan Improvements still conditioned the character of these later developments in the early-Victorian period. Endell Street bypassed Drury Lane and its flanking network of tortuous lanes.
This section of Endell Street was dominated by Odhams Press from about 1890 to 1970. The press published John Bull , which was the most popular magazine in Britain from 1916 to 1934. Odhams also published The Daily Herald, Women’s Own, Debrett’s and Sporting Life (founded 1859). Odhams was bought by the International Publishing Corporation in 1961 and the site was closed down in 1969. The buildings were subsequently destroyed by fire.
