Never would I have believed, tucked away in London's rough East End, would there be a perfectly preserved Georgian Square like Tredegar Square. It's one of the most intriguing things about London-- how a neighborhood isn't made entirely of one element, and how what did and did not escape the bombings during World War II can create heart-pulling, nostalgic dynamics.
One of the more interesting lessons that came from living in the UK for the past years has been what the two World Wars meant to Europe as opposed to the US. The way they're discussed, what they have come to symbolize. For the US, WWII, it's "Greatest Generation" and the time in its aftermath, is often thought of the American idea coming into its full glory. America at its best. It was certainly the the golden era that we've clung to in some of our rhetoric now. I think it's easier for us to think about what we gained and not what we lost. It doesn't haunt the cities like it does here.
Thinking about Coventry, and London during the blitz, as I've done before... just really does it to me, man. So I was glad that with just a week and half left, my friend Alina let me in on this little secret. From there, I started researching. It's been a prime location in the novel, The Somnambulist, and there was even a murderer of Tredegar Square.
Don't let its proximity to the Mile End tube station fool you though. Not only are there houses that look more like Belgravia and Kensington, but the prices reflect the square's hip uniqueness and backstory and beauty.
I've always felt a kind of kindred spirit with anything that narrowly escaped demolition. Even more than my soft-spot for secret gardens and other hidden jewels. (Not to mention, anything Georgian!) Hope you're all having a fabulous Sunday.
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