Our Story

The Goodenough Past & Present

Mecklenburgh Square & The Hotel

Mecklenburgh Square and its garden were part of the Foundling Estate, a residential development of 1792-1825 on fields surrounding and owned by the Foundling Hospital. Designed by Joseph Kay, with Samuel Pepys Cockerell ­– who was appointed as consultant to develop the Estate ­– work started on the Square in 1804, with the last houses being built between 1824-5. The Square was named in honour of King George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, who was the daughter of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz.

Originally designed as a suite of townhouses, the buildings now occupied by The Goodenough Hotel were used as a nursing home during the Second World War. After an extensive renovation to provide guest and visitor accommodation, the buildings were re-opened as the Goodenough Club in 2001, before being renamed The Goodenough on Mecklenburgh Square in 2018.

In 2022 our hotel went through a major refurbishment of all 65 bedrooms. Great care and attention was taken throughout the process to maintain the property’s historic charm and features. Each room has been styled and designed with a strong onus on the historical Georgian colours. In the Georgian period, choosing a colour for your home was often a matter of price; no expense was spared with The Goodenough Hotel refurbishment, resulting in our bold and striking colour palette.

Our Home in Bloomsbury

Charles Booth’s poverty map of London showed Mecklenburgh Square as ‘well to do’ in the 19th century. However, by 1900 the area had ceased to be fashionable and had acquired a more bohemian reputation. Many of the handsome houses were sub-divided into furnished lodgings and small flats that appealed to aspiring writers, intellectuals, radicals and newly educated single women wanting to pursue a career.

The street in which the Hotel is situated was once home to a number of members of the famous ‘Bloomsbury Group’, including Virginia Woolf, as well as numerous other well-known authors, academics and adventurers. The neighbourhood has a reputation as the literary capital of London; Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens lived in Bloomsbury at one point or another during the 19th and 20th centuries. 

The Hotel is home to three blue plaques: On house 21 you can find Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (Muslim reformer and Scholar) and R.H. Tawney (an economic historian and proponent of adult education). On house 22 lives the plaque for Helena Normanton, the first female barrister in the United Kingdom, who also lends her name to one of our Suites.

 

Bloomsbury family at The Goodenough Hotel in London