At the corner of Pall Mall East and Waterloo Place is the United Service Club built by Nash. It was instituted after the Battle of Waterloo, and was at first at the corner of Charles Street, on the site of the Junior Club of the same name.
The Guards' Monument, in Waterloo Place, was put up in 1859 in memory of the Crimea. Three figures of guardsmen—Grenadier, Coldstream, and Fusilier—in full marching uniform, stand round a granite pedestal, on which are inscribed the names of the famous Crimean battles; a pile of Russian guns actually brought from Sebastopol completes the group.
The Church of St. Philip, on the west side of Lower Regent Street, is a quaint building with Doric portico and curious little cupola, the latter a copy of the Lanthorn of Demosthenes at Athens. It was built in 1820 by Repton, from designs by Sir W. Chambers, and has the merit of being almost continually open for prayer and meditation.
On the east side the most important building is the Junior United Service Club, erected in 1852 by Nelson and James.
Market Street and St. James's Market recall the market held "west of the Haymarket, mid-way between Charles and Jermyn Street." This originated in a fair held in St. James's Fields, before the square was built, and from which Mayfair partly derives its name. This fair was suppressed on account of disorder in 1651, but revived again, and was not finally stopped until the end of Charles II.'s reign. After having been suppressed in the Fields in 1664, it was held in the market. Strype describes this market as "a large place, with a commodious market-house in the midst filled with butchers' shambles; besides the stalls in the market-place for country butchers, higglers and the like, being a market now grown to great account, and much resorted unto as being served with good provisions." In a house at the corner of Market Street lived Hannah Lightfoot, said to have been married to King George III. when Prince of Wales. The market belonged to Lord St. Albans, whose name is preserved in St. Albans Place, which ends in a foot-passage leading into Charles Street.
The Haymarket derives its name from a market for hay and straw which was held here until 1830, and was then transferred to Cumberland Market, Regent's Park, where it still continues. The market naturally involved many taverns in its neighbourhood, and the street was lined with them. The names of some were Black Horse, White Horse, Nag's Head, Cock, Phœnix, Unicorn, and Blue Posts. The theatre and the old opera-house were the most important buildings in the Haymarket. The latter was on the site of Her Majesty's Theatre and the Carlton Hotel. It was called at different times the Queen's Theatre, the King's Theatre, and Her Majesty's Theatre, so the new name is but a revival of the old. The first theatre on this site was begun in 1703 as a theatre for Betterton's famous company, which had been performing in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Operas were subsequently performed here; in fact, nearly all Handel's operas were written for this theatre. Masquerades were held in the opera-house in 1749 and 1766, and were attended by all the rank and fashion of the day, and even by royalty in disguise. In 1789 the theatre was burnt down. It was rebuilt and completed only three years after the catastrophe. This house saw some fine performances of the Italian Opera Company, and in it the names of Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, Lablache, Mario, and Jenny Lind, first became known to the public. In 1867 it also was burnt down. For about a quarter of a century a third theatre stood here, but had no success, and was pulled down. The present theatre is of great magnificence, and will seat between 1,600 and 1,700 persons. The Haymarket Theatre opposite is dwarfed by the proximity of its gorgeous neighbour. The names of Fielding, Cibber, Macklin, and Foote are connected with various attempts to make the earliest venture on this site pay. Mozart performed here in 1765, when only eight years old. In 1820 the present building was erected by Nash, adjacent to the old theatre. The Haymarket in the last century was a great place for shows and entertainments.
In James's Street was a tennis-court much patronized by Charles II. and the Duke of York.
Whitcomb Street was formerly called Hedge Lane, an appropriate name when it stood in a rural district; now it is a narrow, dirty thoroughfare, bordered by poor dwellings and small shops.