What did Octavia Hill blue plaque do at 2 Garbutt Place?

The Story

It was at this modest Marylebone address in 1864 that Octavia Hill first put her revolutionary housing reforms into practice, taking over the management of three run-down houses and transforming them into dignified homes for London's working poor. The building served as both her home and operational base as she developed her groundbreaking approach of combining rent collection with personal support for tenants, establishing the foundations of modern social housing. From these humble beginnings at Garbutt Place, Hill would go on to manage hundreds of properties across London, training other women as housing managers and proving that decent housing could be both profitable and socially responsible. This site represents the very birthplace of her life's mission to improve living conditions for the urban poor - a legacy that would eventually lead her to co-found The National Trust and reshape Britain's approach to social housing.