This is a list of public art in Belgravia , a district in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. The area is mainly composed of early 19th-century residential buildings, many of which now serve diplomatic uses. [1] Several of the figures commemorated here were influential in the early development of Belgravia under the ownership of the Grosvenor family (later the Dukes of Westminster). Belgrave Square, which gives the locale its name, [2] has a particularly high number of embassies; its public sculptures are therefore of a pronounced international character. [3]
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates | Date | Artist / designer | Architect / other | Type | Designation | Notes |
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More images | Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster Memorial Drinking Fountain | Junction of Pimlico Road and Avery Farm Row 51°29′28″N0°09′01″W / 51.4911°N 0.1503°W | 1870 | c.Salviati (mosaics) | Thomas Henry Wyatt | Drinking fountain | Grade II | An Italian Renaissance-style drinking fountain of Portland stone and granite, with mosaic panels. [4] [5] [6] |
Obelisk | Walden House, Pimlico Road 51°29′28″N0°09′03″W / 51.4912°N 0.1507°W | c. 1930 | Arnrid Johnston | — | Sculptural group | Grade II | A three-sided sculptural group (badly weathered on two sides) of children playing, with a base depicting groups of animals in the round, all in Portland stone. The critic Kineton Parkes considered this to be Johnson's most important work. [7] | |
More images | Fountainhead | Halkin Arcade 51°29′58″N0°09′26″W / 51.4994°N 0.1573°W | 1971 | Geoffrey Wickham | — | Sculpture | — | Commissioned by Sotheby's, this work won the Royal British Society of Sculptors' Silver Medal in 1972 for the most distinguished new sculpture in London. [8] [9] |
More images | Statue of Simón Bolívar | Belgrave Square 51°29′57″N0°09′08″W / 51.4992°N 0.1522°W | 1974 | Hugo Daini | — | Statue | — | Unveiled by James Callaghan, then Foreign Secretary, and the Venezuelan president Rafael Caldera. The statue of Bolívar in London is said to represent him as a maker of constitutions, in contrast to those in Madrid, Rome and Paris, which are equestrian. The quotation on the pedestal stresses his admiration for British institutions: I am convinced that England alone is capable of protecting the world's precious rights as she is great, glorious and wise. [10] |
More images | Great Flora L | Chesham Place 51°29′52″N0°09′17″W / 51.4977°N 0.1548°W | 1978 | Fritz Koenig | — | Sculpture | — | The sculpture stands outside the extension to the German Embassy, with which it is contemporary. [11] It was conceived as "a fragile 'call-sign' in the heart of the surging metropolis". [12] Flora I, a work by the same artist, is in the garden of the German Chancellery in Berlin. [13] |
More images | Hercules | Ormonde Place 51°29′27″N0°09′14″W / 51.4909°N 0.1539°W | 1981 | ? | — | Statue | — | A small, bronze replica of the Farnese Hercules. Pedestal inscribed HERCULES/ THIS STATUE IS EXHIBITED/ BY WATES LIMITED/ MAY 1981. |
More images | Homage to Leonardo Leonardo da Vinci | Belgrave Square Gardens | 1982 | Enzo Plazzotta and Mark Holloway | — | Sculpture | — | Based on Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man . Completed by Holloway, Plazzotta's studio assistant, after the elder sculptor's death in 1981. Funded by the American construction magnate John M. Harbert. [14] |
More images | Statue of Christopher Columbus | Belgrave Square 51°29′55″N0°09′13″W / 51.4985°N 0.1536°W | 1992 | Tomás Bañuelos | — | Statue | — | Given by the people of Spain in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage. His birth date is mistakenly given as 1446 on the pedestal. [15] |
More images | Statue of José de San Martín | Belgrave Square 51°30′00″N0°09′13″W / 51.5000°N 0.1535°W | 1994 | Juan Carlos Ferraro | — | Statue | — | A gift of the Anglo-Argentine community in Argentina, unveiled by the Duke of Edinburgh. [16] San Martín is depicted in general's uniform with his bicorne hat held casually in his right hand, while in his left he holds a trailing sword below the hilt. An inscription reads His name represents democracy, justice and liberty. [17] |
More images | Statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Orange Square, corner of Ebury Street and Pimlico Road 51°29′27″N0°09′10″W / 51.4908°N 0.1529°W | 1994 | Philip Jackson | — | Statue | — | The composer is portrayed at the age of eight, when he stayed at 180 Ebury Street for the summer and autumn of 1764; he wrote his first two symphonies there. The statue was proposed to mark the bicentenary of Mozart's death in 1991. [18] |
More images | Statue of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster | Wilton Crescent 51°30′01″N0°09′14″W / 51.5004°N 0.1538°W | 1998 | Jonathan Wylder | — | Statue | — | The developer of Belgravia is shown studying plans of the area, his foot resting on a milestone inscribed CHESTER/ 197/ MILES, a reference to his estate at Eaton Hall in Cheshire. On either side sit two talbots, the supporters from his coat of arms. [19] An inscription on the pedestal reads WHEN WE BUILD, LET US THINK WE BUILD FOR EVER—a slight misquotation from John Ruskin's Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849). [20] |
Armillary sphere | Belgrave Square Gardens | 2000 | ? | — | Armillary sphere | — | A gift from the Duke of Westminster to mark the beginning of the third millennium. The inscription on the rim is taken from William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence" (1803): To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. [21] | |
More images | Statue of Henry the Navigator | Belgrave Square 51°29′57″N0°09′17″W / 51.4992°N 0.1548°W | 2002 | José Simões de Almeida | — | Statue | — | Unveiled 12 February 2002 by Jorge Sampaio, the President of Portugal. [22] A cast of a statue in Vila Franca do Campo on São Miguel Island, erected in 1932 to commemorate the quincentenary of the arrival of the Portuguese to the Azores. [23] The Portuguese Embassy is at 11 Belgrave Square. [24] |
Bust of George Basevi | Belgrave Square Gardens 51°29′56″N0°09′10″W / 51.4989°N 0.1529°W | 2002 | Jonathan Wylder | — | Bust | — | Basevi was responsible for the design and construction of Belgrave Square in 1825–1840. [25] [26] | |
Water's Murmur | Kinnerton Street | 2009 | Julian Stocks | KSS | Perforated steel screen | — | A map of London, this commemorates the "lost" River Westbourne, whose course runs under the street. [27] [28] |
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates | Date | Artist / designer | Architect / other | Type | Designation | Notes |
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More images | The Jeeves Ladies | Outside Jeeves shop, Pont Street | 1974 | Kate McGill | — | Sculptural group | — | Based on the logo, depicting two gossiping Edwardian ladies out shopping, designed by Derrick Holmes for the dry cleaning firm Jeeves of Belgravia. Holmes also produced the maquette for the sculpture. [29] |
Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster,, styled Viscount Belgrave between 1831 and 1845, Earl Grosvenor between 1845 and 1869, and known as The Marquess of Westminster between 1869 and 1874, was an English landowner, politician and racehorse owner. He inherited the estate of Eaton Hall in Cheshire and land in Mayfair and Belgravia, London, and spent much of his fortune in developing these properties. Although he was an MP from the age of 22, and then a member of the House of Lords, his main interests were not in politics, but rather in his estates, in horse racing, and in country pursuits. He developed the stud at Eaton Hall and achieved success in racing his horses, winning the Derby on four occasions.
Belgravia is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Grosvenor Group Limited is an internationally diversified property group, which traces its origins to 1677 and has its headquarters in London, England. It has a global reach, now in 62 international cities, with offices in 14 of them, operated on behalf of its owners, the Duke of Westminster and his family. It has four regional development and investment businesses and a portfolio of indirect investments. Its sectors include residential, office, retail, industrial, along with hotels.
Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s. Most of the houses were occupied by 1840. The square takes its name from one of the Duke of Westminster's subsidiary titles, Viscount Belgrave. The village and former manor house of Belgrave, Cheshire, were among the rural landholdings associated with the main home and gardens of the senior branch of the family, Eaton Hall. Today, many embassies occupy buildings on all four sides.
Cities of London and Westminster is a constituency returning a single Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons in the United Kingdom Parliament. As with all constituencies, the election is decided using the first past the post system of election. Since its creation at the 1950 general election, the constituency has always elected the candidate nominated by the Conservative Party.
Belgrave is a historic village in Cheshire, England. The area is part of the estates owned the Dukes of Westminster who have their seat at Eaton Hall, Cheshire. The village has a few houses and the Grosvenor Garden Centre. Belgrave Lodge is located at the western end of the 1.7 mi (2.7 km) main approach to Eaton Hall, which is known as the Belgrave Avenue. The name Belgrave is based on the Anglo-Saxon meaning for “beautiful grove”, which Normans replaced after the Conquest from the old name “Medregrave” which in Old French meant “filth grove”.
The Embassy of Italy in London is the diplomatic mission of Italy in the United Kingdom. The front entrance is located on a private cul-de-sac in Mayfair, though there is also an entrance at the back on Grosvenor Square.
The Embassy of Belgium in London is Belgium's diplomatic mission to the United Kingdom. It is located at 17 Grosvenor Crescent, having moved from its historical location in Eaton Square in 2006.
The Embassy of Portugal in London is the diplomatic mission of Portugal in the United Kingdom. The embassy is located on Belgrave Square, Belgravia, in two separate buildings, and there is also a Portuguese consulate in Portland Place, Fitzrovia.
The Embassy of Spain in London is the diplomatic mission of Spain in the United Kingdom. The embassy is located at 24 Belgrave Square in the Belgravia area of London. Spain also maintains a Consulate General at 20 Draycott Place in Chelsea, a Defence Office at 3 Hans Crescent in Knightsbridge, an Education, Employment & Social Affairs Office at 20 Peel Street in Holland Park, and an Economic & Commercial Section at 66 Chiltern Street in Marylebone.
The statue of the 1st Marquess of Westminster is an outdoor sculpture depicting the owner and developer of the surrounding Grosvenor estate, Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster. The statue by Jonathan Wylder is located at the corner of Wilton and Grosvenor Crescents, Belgravia, London, England, and was commissioned by Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster in 1998.
Grosvenor Gardens House is a Grade II-listed mansion block at 23–47 Grosvenor Gardens, Belgravia, London. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother may have been born there in 1900. David Niven was born there in 1910, and William Henry Blackmore killed himself there in 1878. As of March 2017, the building is the subject of a £132-million High Court trial for damages brought against Christian and Nick Candy.
The equestrian statue of Ferdinand Foch stands in Lower Grosvenor Gardens, London. The sculptor was Georges Malissard and the statue is a replica of another raised in Cassel, France. Foch, appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces on the Western Front in the Spring of 1918, was widely seen as the architect of Germany's ultimate defeat and surrender in November 1918. Among many other honours, he was made an honorary Field marshal in the British Army, the only French military commander to receive such a distinction. Following Foch's death in March 1929, a campaign was launched to erect a statue in London in his memory. The Foch Memorial Committee chose Malissard as the sculptor, who produced a replica of his 1928 statue of Foch at Cassel. The statue was unveiled by the Prince of Wales on 5 June 1930. Designated a Grade II listed structure in 1958, the statue's status was raised to Grade II* in 2016.