(What lies behind) The Green Door? - Park Street, SE1. Well, it used to be fruit and veg - for Borough Market - that was winched up into this former warehouse. Now, methinks, it’s just an office.
Kings Head - 14 New Bridge Street, EC4. The head of King Edward VI (1547-53) set in stone above the arched entrance to this office building. Bridewell Palace stood on the west side of the Fleet River (now New Bridge Street) and was transformed into a prison when Edward gifted it to the City of London.
Judge ye not (yet) - Ludgate Hill, EC4, on the corner with Limeburner Lane. This temporary view of the Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) will be blotted out forever once this site is redeveloped with whatever post-modern monstrocity it is that fills the hole. The Corporation of the City of London has a reputation for giving the nod to any old rubbish.
Baroque & scrolls: 1697 style - Lincolns Inn, WC2. Above the gate leading into the passage to Carey Street.
Nelson’s Fleet Found (but his arm is still missing) - The Mall, SW1. From Admiralty Arch to Buckingham Palace, and on top of all the lamposts, are these representations of Nelson’s battle fleet at Trafalgar. From his column in Trafalgar Square Nelson looks over Admiralty Arch (b. 1910) towards The Old Admiralty (b. 1728) and beyond Buckingham Palace towards - so they say - the naval dockyard at Portsmouth.
You look…Gorgeous - The Yorkshire Grey PH, Theobalds Road, WC1 - on the north west corner with Grays Inn Road. Whenever I look up at this relief stone carving, atop the 1870’s pub, I think of that dashing rake Sgt. Troy as played by Terence Stamp, in ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’.
Holy Twisted Spire! - St Lawrence Jewry, Gresham Street, EC2. A Wren church bomb damaged during WW2, the spire of which is now noticabely skew-whiff.
Honeycomb Heaven - Centre Point, St Giles Circus WC2
The Nose (full ‘face’) - Admiralty Arch, SW1. What’s it doing there? Not a lot. It originated as an ‘art’ installation in 1997, protesting against the nosy ‘Big Brother’ society. But people then imagined a history for it, providing it with a nineteenth century provenance - it was the Duke of Wellington’s nose; it was rubbed by Horseguards for good luck whilst riding through the Arch etc. To find it look above eye level in the eastbound, or north, arch.
The Nose (in profile) - Admiralty Arch, SW1. Why is it there? Good question. It originated as an ‘art’ installation in 1997, protesting against the nosy ‘Big Brother’ society. But Londoners then imagined a history for it, providing it with a nineteenth century provenance - it was the Duke of Wellington’s nose; it was rubbed by Horseguards for good luck whilst riding through the Arch etc. To find it look above eye level in the eastbound, or north, arch.
