Call it square

IWAS interested in your photograph of the pagoda in Berkeley Square (The way we were, March 23), not only because I pass it most days, but also because of the date— 1924. This led me to speculate that your original article was written because of an upsurge of interest in London Squares following public outcry at the loss of gardens at Mornington Crescent, Endsleigh Gardens and others to development in the early 1920s. That led to a Royal Commission report in 1928, detailing every garden and square in London, and the passing of the London Squares Preservation Act in 1931, which continues to protect 461 gardens and squares from development. Robert Barham, by email