34 Montagu Square, Marylebone

34 Montagu Square
Regency Houses in Montagu Square
General information
Type	Residential
Architectural style	Regency
Address	34 Montagu Square
Town or city	Marylebone, London
Country	London, England
Construction started	1810
Owner	Reynold D' Silva (since 2002)
Technical details
Floor count	Six (including basement)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Joseph T. Parkinson

34 Montagu Square is the address of a London ground floor and basement flat once leased by Beatles member Ringo Starr during the mid-1960s. Its location is 1.3 miles (2.09 km) from the Abbey Road Studios, where The Beatles recorded. Many well-known people have lived at the address, including a British Member of Parliament, Richard-Hanbury Gurney, and the daughter of the Marquess of Sligo, Lady Emily Charlotte Browne. The square was named after Elizabeth Montagu, who was highly regarded by London society in the late 18th century.

Paul McCartney recorded demo songs there, such as "I'm Looking Through You", and worked on various compositions, including "Eleanor Rigby". With the help of Ian Sommerville he converted the flat to a studio for Apple Corps' avant-garde Zapple label, recording William S. Burroughs for spoken-word Zapple albums. Jimi Hendrix and his manager, Chas Chandler, later lived there with their girlfriends. While living there, Hendrix composed "The Wind Cries Mary".

For three months, John Lennon and Yoko Ono rented the flat, taking a photograph that would become the cover of their Two Virgins album. After the police raided the flat looking for drugs, the landlord of the property sought an injunction against Starr to prevent it from being used for anything untoward or illegal. Starr sold the lease in February 1969.

In 2010, after a 10-year campaign by proposer, Peter Davies, English Heritage agreed to commemorate John Lennon's London address with a blue marker plaque at the site, making it an English Heritage "building of historical interest". On 23 October 2010, Yoko Ono unveiled the plaque with the inscription 'JOHN LENNON Musician and Songwriter 1940 - 1980 lived here in 1968'.

34 and the adjoining 33 Montagu Square have been listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England since December 1987.^[1]