Bloomsbury is an area of the
London Borough of Camden, in central London, between
Euston Road and
Holborn, developed by the
Russell family in the 17th and 18th centuries into a fashionable residential area. It is notable for its array of
garden squares, literary connections (exemplified by the
Bloomsbury Group), and numerous cultural, educational and health-care institutions. Although Bloomsbury was not the first area of London to have acquired a formal square,
Bloomsbury Square, laid out in 1660 by
Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, as Southampton Square was the first square to be named as such.