→ in litterature a lot of fictional detective are written as living in the Piccadilly area 

it seems Piccadilly is usually used to show wealth and sucess. 

tv

In London, coffee houses welcomed the rich, especially poets, politicians, journalists and thinkers. This range of professions (even if they are clearly upper class jobs) meant that everyone could bring their specificity in the debate. 

Today, we are drawn towards big coffee shops such as Starbucks, Nero and we are losing this ambience that was so important. Today, no one would feel confortable go over to someone and start having a debate about a particular topic. We have lost this cultural difference. We are less mentally intrigue by other's opinions. 

It would be really interesting to study those past spaces to see how architecturally they manage to create spaces where people were encouraged to talk and debate together without knowing each other. 

- the name ‘Piccadilly’ came from the Piccadills sold in the shops which are stiff collars, typical of the Victorian Era. 

- During the 1660s,  Piccadilly and Mayfair started to develop as a residential area of the rich and famous. 

(north side of Piccadilly: mansions and palaces are built such as Clarendon House, Sir John Denhams’s house). 

In 1819, Piccadilly Circus became the connection place between the City of Westminster and Regent’s Street. In 1866, it connected Shaftesbury Avenue to the rest of London. Shaftesbury Avenue used to be the connection from London to slums in Soho and St Giles. 

- 1893: the stone island was crowned with the aluminum statue of Eros as a memorial of the earl of Shaftesbury. 

- the intersection’s first advertisements appeared in 1910 and in 1923 apparation of the giant electric billboards. 

- in the 1980s: the surrounding buildings were redeveloped to house retail shops.