Mayfair
Mayfair is an area inWestminster London. It was named after a festival that took place in the haymarket throughout 17th and 18th century called the "May Fair".
View from a Park Bench in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair
Mayfair is approximately bordered by Hyde Park, Oxford Street, Green Park and Regent Street. Most of the area was first developed between the mid 17th century and the mid 18th century as a fashionably elite residential district, by a number of landlords, the most important of them being the Grosvenor family. The freehold of a large section of Mayfair still belongs to the current Duke of Westminster.
The district is now mainly commercial, with many offices in converted houses and new buildings, including major corporate headquarters and a concentration of financial hedge funds. Rents are among the highest in London. There is still a substantial amount of residential property, as well as some exclusive shopping, London's largest concentration of luxury hotels and many fine restaurants. Buildings in Mayfair include the U.S. embassy in Grosvenor Square, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Grosvenor House Hotel and Claridge's.