Piccadilly is one of the widest and busiest streets in the historic center of London - Westminster . It runs from Piccadilly Circus (in the east) to Hyde Park (in the west). The main local attraction is the building of the Royal Academy of Arts .
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History
Until the 17th century, the area around the street was known as Portugal, later the street itself was called Portuguese. The name "Piccadilly" received from the mansion of Robert Baker, who at the beginning of the XVII century made a fortune trading in fashionable collars, "piccadill" [1] - hard collars with jagged edges and wide lace, tightening along the edges. In 1612 he bought a part of the land in the street area and built a house there. Later, his mansion was named Piccadilly Hall.
After the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, Piccadilly and the region to the north ( Mayfair ) began to be built up with luxurious houses. In the 17th and 18th centuries , noblemen and aristocrats built houses here, and later - new rich people like the Rothschilds . At that time, the most fashionable mansions in London were built on the north side of Piccadilly.
Notes
- Pic "piccadill", Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition 1989