A Lebanese Elephant Nailed by Claire from the Old Kent Road

There was a bumper crop of entries for Friday's Weekend Elephant! Thank you to all of you who correctly located it in Notting Hill Gate, outside Newcombe House near Waterstones.

But one entrant was especially quick off the mark and is a clear winner. Within moments of me hitting the "Publish Post" button, barely before the pixels had coagulated into an image, sharp-eyed Claire of the Old Kent Road had emailed me her winning entry, congratulations to her!

Carnival Elephant dates from 2003 and was produced by Nadim Karam and his firm Atelier Hapsitus. The artist was born in Senegal and works from his company studio in Beirut. He describes his studio as  “a satellite grouping of young architects and designers around happenings and situations.”. Check out the link for details of their many worldwide projects.

The elephant here was commissioned by the Notting Hill Improvements Group and Land Securities.

On the roof of the nearby Waterstones are two more of his figures, these date from 1999.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

I Am Not A Number, I Am A Free Elephant!

Each Friday we publish a picture of one of  London's enormous herd of elephants, this week's is Number 6.
You then have the whole weekend to email the location to discoveringlondon@hotmail.co.uk. The first person to locate each weekend's elephant will be rewarded with a glorious mention sometime on Monday when the location will be officially revealed.

This week's Weekend Elephant photo has been cropped; a fuller view might lead to an instant winner!

Happy hunting!

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

Royal Beasts at the Tower - Completed by Weekend Elephant

This week's Weekend Elephant came from the Tower of London. The first person to correctly identify the location was Matt, he of that encyclopaedic London resource the Londonist.  Congratulations! An honourable mention to Marc too for providing the most complete answer, thank you!

The elephant is by sculptor Kendra Haste and was installed last Monday at the QEII gate.

 

The elephant completes her excellent series of wire animal sculptures, produced for the Tower of London's Royal Beasts exhibition. I have blogged about this exhibition several times now. The first animals installed in April were the lions, in May came baboons and the polar bear. Later in May some more baboons were introduced and I wrote about some of the missed opportunities of the exhibition.

Now at last the exhibition is complete. I think Kendra Haste's sculptures are magnificent and have visited them as they arrive about a dozen times. I am a member of Historic Royal Palaces so I can nip in and see them whenever I like and I don't have to queue. Whether I would make a special journey if I was not a member and pay £19.80 each time to see this very small exhibition is highly unlikely. However if I had never visited the Tower before I would probably enjoy this additional temporary attraction.

For locals that haven't seen the exhibition and would like to, I would suggest that a year's membership is probably the best bet. That way you can nip in and out avoiding the crowds and you get to do the same at Hampton Court, Banqueting House, Kensington and Kew Palace's too. Annual membership is £43 so if you only visit a Palace or two it will soon pay for itself. Details of individual and family membership from HRP website can be found here.

Weekend Elephant #5, London's Newest!

Each Friday we publish a picture of one of  London's giant herd of elephants. You then have the whole weekend to email the location to discoveringlondon@hotmail.co.uk. The first person to locate each weekend's elephant will be rewarded with a glorious mention sometime on Monday when the location will be officially revealed. Honour is all that is at stake.

So without further ado here is London's most recent addition to the herd.

 Happy hunting!

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

The Oldest Inscription in London?

This Mercers' Maiden in Corbet Court was reinstated in 2004. As with all her sisters she marks property held by the Mercers Company.

She is dated 1669 and so this inscription  is seven years older than the one beneath the bust of Lord Essex in Devereux Court.

The Devereux Court inscription of 1676, was commonly held to be the oldest one in London but clearly the Maid of Corbet Court now has a stronger claim to that title. Does anyone know of an even older inscription anywhere in London? If so, please drop me a line.

Update 10.15! Sharp eyed Pepys from the excellent London Peculiar just tweeted me an image of grafitti from the Tower of London that takes the "earliest inscription" title back nearly 200 years! Thank you!



Can anyone beat this?

Weekend Elephant #4 The Result!

This weekend's London elephant is probably passed by more people each day than any other. It took until Sunday morning though for one reader to correctly identify it. Congratulations to Helene from Brixton for not only supplying the location but also the sculptor.

Asia - Henry Hugh Armstead

The elephant comes from the Asia spandrel on the Whitehall frontage of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (formerly the Foreign, India, Colonial, and Home Offices). All the continents were carved by Henry Hugh Armstead for the building's architect George Gilbert Scott.

Africa - Henry Hugh Armstead

America - Henry Hugh Armstead

Australasia - Henry Hugh Armstead

Europe - Henry Hugh Armstead

Henry Hugh Armstead (1828 –1905) also provided large-scale sculptures for the Palace of Westminster and over 80 figures for Scott's Albert Memorial, but my favourite work of his in London is on a far smaller scale.

Prior to the building of the Albert Memorial, George Gilbert Scott commissioned a scale model, this is now in the Victoria and Albert museum. For the model Armstead provided all of the miniature sculptures. Scott was so pleased with Armstead's work that he wrote ‘I doubt whether either the central figure or a single group, as executed, is superior to the miniature models furnished by Mr Armstead’.

On a different note, sharp-eyed readers may have noticed the swastika patterns surrounding each sculpture. The building dates from 1861-1875, well before the ancient symbol became associated with the Nazis. There are many other innocent uses of the symbol in London. A recent article, and reader comments, on the excellent Great Wen blog describe these and also investigate the rumour of Nazi swastika just off The Mall.

Weekend Elephant #4

Each Friday we publish a picture of one of  London's giant herd of elephants. You then have the whole weekend to email the location to discoveringlondon@hotmail.co.uk. The first person to locate each weekend's elephant will be rewarded with a glorious mention sometime on Monday when the location will be officially revealed. Honour is all that is at stake.

So here without further ado here is the last Weekend Elephant of July!

 Happy hunting!

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

Weekend Elephant #3 - Result Out!

This weekend's elephants lie tucked behind King's College Library building off Chancery Lane.

 

India

The India panel, that features the elephants, is just one of six including:

Australasia

 

 

Africa

America

A plaque on the end of the little building explains their presence here.

There are pictures of all the panels and some more details about them from the excellent Victorian Web.

Congratulations to this weeks winner Colin Davey, a City of London Guide with Walk City. Colin emailed the correct answer many hours before anyone else, well done sir!

Weekend Elephant #2 The Result!

The first person to correctly locate last week's Weekend Elephant was the keen-eyed Vania from Stanmore, many congratulations this was a tough one!

This elephant was especially hard to find as it is located inside the lobby of the former Express Building at 120 Fleet Street. The building is now occupied by Goldman Sachs who do not only normally grant public access and I don't normally feature elephants that require special permissions to view. There is a reason for this week's exception. It is normally possible to visit the lobby during Open House Weekend (17th & 18th September) and the full guide to this highlight of every London enthusiast's year is soon to be published.

So this elephant is a memory jogger for Open House regulars to order the guide and start planning, and a strong recommendation for those yet to participate to buy the guide and drool over the 700+ properties that will be open this year, all completely free!

The Asian elephant is featured in one of two panels of gilded and silvered plaster reliefs by Eric Aumonier. The Aumonier reliefs in the lobby form part one of the finest Art Deco interiors in Britain, the whole being designed by Robert Atkinson in 1932.

Eric Aumonier (1899–1974)   is an often overlooked sculptor. Together with contemporaries such as Eric Gill, Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein he too worked on external sculptures at Charles Holden's 55 Broadway. Unfortunately Aumonier's work can't be seen from street level so his contribution is often ignored.  There are pictures of his hidden South Wind  from the excellent Ornamental Passions though.

Aumonier did contribute one highly visible statue to London, his famous Archer at East Finchley station, another collaboration with Holden.

There is some more information on the sculptor, some pictures of the panels and of his Archer statue here.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

Nose for Sale - Is it a Rick Buckley?

Paul Smith's antique shop in Albemarle Street currently have this handsome nose for sale.

 

The price tag is £550 and guesses at a 1960's US origin for the unsigned piece.

To my eye the piece is not stone but resin and seems remarkably like two of the famous Seven Noses of Soho (these were produced, in several sizes and in resin by Rick Buckley before being attached to buildings around Soho in the 1990's, see previous posts for more on them). The tentative attribution to a US artist is based on the fact that a Paul Smith buyer found this nose in Miami.

Now as someone who has devoted a lot of time to researching the noses and even leads guided tours around them, I would bet money this nose is a Rick Buckley ... but I have no proof. Can anyone help? Does anyone know if Rick Buckley produced free-standing noses for sale in addition to his building enhancements? Do you perhaps own a similar nose? Please drop me a line if you can shed any light on any of this.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, including The Seven Noses of Soho, see tabs for details.

Yuri Gagarin and Henry Moore in Cultural Exchange

As the new Yuri Gagarin statue was unveiled in London today it was revealed at the reception that a familiar London landmark will soon be leaving for the Kremlin in Moscow. One woman connects the two unique public exhibitions - Elena Gagarina, Yuri Garagin's daughter.

 

The Yuri Gagarin statue was unveiled this morning outside the British Council's offices on the Mall near Admiralty Arch. It is an exhibition copy of the original which stands in Lyubertsy.  

 

The unveiling was performed by HRH Prince Michael of Kent and Elena Gagarina in front of a large crowd of press, dignitaries, and well wishers. Perhaps the most unusual feature of the morning was a greeting delivered live and direct from the International Space Station's crew, in a reception immediately prior to the unveiling.

Elena Gagarina is not only the daughter of the the first man in space, she is also Director of the Kremlin Museums. In this capacity, she, together with the British Council have arranged for the Kremlin to have its first ever show of Modern Art.

The Henry Moore exhibition will open at the Kremlin in Feb 2012 and will feature many sculptures and drawings by the British artist. The highlight of the show will be this familiar London landmark.

This is Moore's Knife Edge Two Piece made between 1962 and 1965. It stands near the Victoria Tower at the Houses of Parliament and regularly crops up in the background of political interviews.

 

The international loan of such a well-known London landmark is very unusual but then the gift of a Russian memorial or monument is equally rare. Special permission was required from the Governor of Moscow and Lyubertsy authorities to make a copy of the original Gagarin statue so that Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, could present it as a gift to the people of Britain. It will stand in the current location for one year before moving to a permanent site.

The statue's unveiling could not have been better timed. This year marks 50 years of manned space flight and today, July 14th is the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's lunch with HM the Queen. 

Gagarin visited the UK in July 1961. The authorities were wrong-footed and underestimated the enthusiasm with which he was greeted by the British public. What was to have been a pretty low-key 2 day visit was hastily extended to 4 days and a meeting with Harold Macmillan and lunch at Buckingham Palace arranged. During that lunch the Queen gave Yuri Gagarin a present of two dolls for his daughters, Elena and Galina. I wonder if they both still have them?

There is also an accompanying exhibition celebrating 50 years of manned space flight at the British Council but I will post separately about this.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

Senior Whitehall Source Reveals New Nose in Soho!

I was contacted this week by a Senior Whitehall civil servant regarding a new nose in Soho! Seriously I was, I am not making this one up!

For those of you who do not already know about the legend of Seven Noses of Soho please see this link to an earlier post Seven Noses of Soho Discovered . For those of you who are already afficianados, I present to you "The Roman Nose"

My Senior Civil Service source, who I shall refer to as Tony, leaked the information to me by email on Monday. His cryptic Latin clue took some unravelling but after a long slog through Soho I was thrilled to spot it myself. Naturally this new discovery has been incorporated in all my future "Seven Noses of Soho" walking tours.

So now there are confirmed sightings of eight noses but two of them lie just outside Soho. Is it possible that a ninth still remains within Soho's boundaries? If that were true then there really would be Seven Soho Noses. Any sightings or alternate theories gratefully received.

New Anish Kapoor in City of London

Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror was unpacked last night and is on show from today.

 

The stainless steel mirror is nearly 3 metres across and stands in Aviva Court. It is the star attraction of the The Great St Helen's and Undershaft Sculpture Park, a link to a previous post on this here.

The concave side faces up towards the Lloyds and Willis buildings and the convex side faces down and back into the square.

The reflections are typically counter-intuitive, the Aviva building, behind the mirror, is reflected in its base, right side up, whilst the Lloyds bulding is reflected upside down at the top of the mirror. From the rear the square is made infinite by the mirror and individuals walking across it are rendered ant-like.

It is an object that has been engineered to perfection and its craftsmanship unassumingly demands a response. For me it makes the unfathomable vastness of our surroundings and our own individual insignificance in the grand scheme of things tangible in a most sublime manner.

London somehow now seems incomplete without an Anish Kapoor to enjoy. This piece is just the latest in a long line of fantastic temporary exhibits, I hope a central location can be found for something more permanent.

Reagan Unsheathed

The protective sheath on the new Ronald Reagan statue was removed today in Grosvenor Square.

The unveiling took place in front of an audience of paying guests and dignitaries. The photo above shows temporary staging being erected yesterday. Heavy security closed Grosvenor Square from 5.30am today.

By around noon I was able to get near enough for a few pictures.

More details about the memorial from a previous post here.

Elephants in London - Quiz Results

The deadline for entries to London's most prestigious elephant based photo quiz has now passed. Overnight a hand-picked team has checked and re-checked all the answers provided. And the winner, with the greatest tally of correctly located elephants is ....



The Georgian Group!



So now they are pre-eminent not only as the Nation's guardians of Georgian buildings, monuments and landscapes but they are also London's leading pachyderm spotters! If you don't know about the work of this excellent organisation there is a link to their website here.


Congratulations! Your prize, a copy of Jan Bondeson's Animal Freaks, will be hand-delivered to you in Fitzroy Square in the next few days!


For everybody else who entered, thank you and commiserations.  To put you out of your misery here are the locations of all 21 elephants.


I have collected many other London elephants and will publish them here on a regular basis.

1 Africa House, Kingsway

2 Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre

3 India House, Aldwych

4 Oriental Club, Stratford Place

5, South Africa House, Trafalgar Square

6 Camden High Street

7 Animals At War Memorial, Park Lane

8 Liberty, Gt. Marlborough St.

9 Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens

10 Holland Street Chelsea

11 Allington House, Victoria St

12 South Lambeth Road Vauxhall

13 Baby Tembo LSE, Clare Market

14 Entrance to St Katherine's Docks

15, Adelphi, John Adam St

16 Fenchurch Street, City

17, Cutlers' Hall, Warwick Lane, City

18 Selfridges Duke St. Entrance

19 Chapel, Lincoln's Inn

20 Outer Circle, Regent's Park, Nr. Zoo

21, Burlington Arcade Piccadilly