B/W print; Piccadilly Circus by Topical Press, 1924
Main details
| Reference number | 1999/20145 |
|---|---|
| Description | View of Piccadilly Circus by the junction with Regent Street. The Shaftesbury Memorial (Eros) is clearly visible. Eros was moved from this position during the 1925-28 reconstruction of Piccadilly Circus Underground station. |
| Photographer | |
| Dates | Jul 1924 |
| Collection | |
| Object type |
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| Photograph number | U2552 |
| Location | |
| Topics | |
| Completeness | 74% |
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Physical description
Dimensions Attribute Value Height mmWidth mmItem content Attribute Value Annotation July 1924. THE COUNTY FIRE OFFICE.
Sir, - Abraham copied the elevation of the County Fire Office in Piccadilly-circus from an addition made to the water-front of old Somerset House by Inigo Jones, and from the same source Chambers took his design for the Strand front of the present Somerset House. Abraham followed Jones's building very closely, however, and save for slight differentiations in the details, it is - or should it be, was? - an exact copy. Room IX., on the top floor of the London Museum, contains a painting of the waterfront of old Somerset House, and nearby is another of the extremity of Regent-street, showing the County Fire office. From these the variation in the details of the two buildings - with respect merely to pediments, pilasters, etc. - may be observed. The arcade is characteristic of Jones's work - miscalled piazzas - on the north side of Covent Garden. The County Fire Office was Palladian - in stucco. It was a pleasing structure, and as a terminal to the vista from the lower section of Regent-street will assuredly not be surpassed by the one that will take its place. Our modern architects have already ruined the Quadrant, and, sad to say, the worse culprit was Norman Shaw, for whatever may be the merits of his Quadrant building, the hideous rear section of his Piccadilly Hotel, which overtops it when viewed from the distance, will be a lasting disfigurement, no matter how good - or how bad - the style in which the Quadrant may be completed.
Regent-street will soon have been entirely rebuilt; but it will still be Nash's street, the greatest achievement in street improvement ever carried out in London, and conceived, planned, executed, and completed by one man in the space of ten years. Pall Mall East and Trafalgar-square were corollaries of the construction of Regent-street. Of Nash's works still existing there are the east wing of Carlton House-terrace, the main building of the United Service Club, the Haymarket Theatre, and the Marble Arch. The last-named, and Burton's arch at Constitution-hill and his Apsley Gate (the screen at Hyde Park Corner) will remain architectural adornments of London long after Regent-street will have again been rebuilt. And for contrast in Burton's works we may turn to the great Palm House, the Temporate House, and the Temple of Aeolus at Kew; and to the Athenaeum Club, which latter building he designed when twenty-six years of age.
Yours faithfully,
CHARLES WHITE
73, Cranbrook-road, Chiswick-lane, W.4.
November 2, 1924.
Observer, 9-11-24Design Attribute Value Shot Medium exterior -
People involved
Role Person(s) involved Photographer Topical Press, Jul 1924Copied by Colin Tait, 1984 -
Associated companies, people and places
Places Borough Westminster,Location Piccadilly Circus, Westminster, W1People Attribute Value People Charles White -