Hanna Gray - Photos

Educator, born in Heidelberg, Germany. Emigrating from Germany in 1934, she received her doctorate in Renaissance history from Harvard (1957). A professor at Northwestern (1960–72), she became dean of arts and sciences there (1972–4). The first woman provost at Yale (1974–7), she became the first woman to head a major research university when she served as president of the University of Chicago (1978–93). During her administration she cut costs and increased undergraduate and minority enrollments, and later returned to teaching at the University of Chicago (1993).

Holborn (pronounced /ˈhəʊbən/ or /ˈhəʊbɜːn/ -- "ho bun") is a place in London, named after a tributary to the River Fleet that flowed through the area, the Hole-bourne (the stream in the hollow). Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, straddling the borders of the London Borough of Camden, the City of Westminster and the City of London. The name Holborn is derived from a hamlet called Holebourne to the East which was established long before 1249, this name in turn taken from the river Fleet, now subterranean but once flowing parallel to where Kingsway now stands. In the days when Holborn was a green oasis, the Elizabethan herbalist John Gerard cultivated the land with much horticultural zeal.

Publishing was the booming industry of the 17th century in which the area began to prosper. In more recent times High Holborn has become an efficient businesslike street where lawyers and financial professionals have cemented their place amongst entertainment venues. The Holborn Empire stood between 1867 and 1960 when it was pulled down after structural damage sustained in the blitz.

The area is north of the traditional stamping ground for journalists in Fleet Street and lawyers in the Inner Temple and Middle Temple. The most northerly of the Inns of Court, Gray's Inn, is in Holborn. In the eighteenth century, Holborn was the location of the infamous Mother Clap's molly house.

At the eastern end of Holborn is the Holborn Bars building, once home to the Prudential Insurance company. The Holborn Bars building is notable for being used on the cover of "Old Holborn" tobacco. The imposing red building stands on the site of Furnival's Inn, one of the few buildings which survived the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Further east in the gated avenue of Ely Place is the oldest Catholic Church in London, St Etheldreda's Church.

There are references to Ely Palace grounds in Shakespeare’s plays. And in Richard III, Gloucester tells the Bishop of Ely: ‘My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there.

Hatton Garden, the centre of the Diamond trade was leased to a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Christopher Hatton at the insistence of the Queen to provide him with an income.

Behind the Prudential Building lies the Anglo Catholic church of St Alban the Martyr.

On Holborn Circus lies the Church of St Andrews. In the early twenty-first century, Holborn has been the site of new offices and hotels, which have exploited its excellent public transport links (Holborn underground station is the junction of the Central and Piccadilly lines), and its strategic location between the City of London and the West End.

The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was created in 1899.

Nearest places:

Bloomsbury Clerkenwell St Pancras Charing Cross Soho Covent Garden St. Giles - the area around St. Giles High Street (to the west of Holborn)

Nearest underground stations:

Chancery Lane Covent Garden Holborn St. Paul's

Photos

Holborn Bars, built as the headquarters of the Prudential Assurance Company	Staple Inn building near Chancery Lane tube station	Grange Holborn Hotel in Holborn	High Holborn
Entrance to Gray's Inn