View of Trafalgar Square
View of Trafalgar Square
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View of Trafalgar Square
SC_PHL_01_537_B1366 (Collage 141253)
London Metropolitan Archives: LCC Photograph Library
View of Trafalgar Square, City of Westminster, looking northeast from the northern end of Whitehall. Trafalgar Square was planned as part of the redevelopment of the West Strand Improvements by John Nash following the passing of the Charing Cross Act of 1826. Although it was to be another 30 years before the square was completed, it occupies the area of the former Great Mews of the Crown Stables. Charles Barry was the architect, although he opposed the decision to erect Nelson's Column on the site - he was overruled. The whole square is Grade I listed, number 1001362. Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson's memorial column and sculpture was built 1839-1842, to the design of William Railton with a fluted granite column and Corinthian capital. The statue was by E. H. Baily and the bas-relief panels around the base depicting Nelson's famous naval battles by J. E. Carew, J. Ternouth, M. L. Watson and W. F. Woodington. The four lions by Sir Edwin Landseer were cast by Baron Marochetti and added 1867. The monument is Grade I listed, number 1276052. The fountains were remodelled in 1939 to the designs of Sir Edwin Lutyens with sculpture by Sir Charles Wheeler and W. McMillan. The north terrace is balustraded and stone bollards enclose the open space of the square. These features are Grade II* listed, number 1066235. In the foreground is a traffic island which has an equestrian statue of Charles I in half armour. Commissioned in 1630 by Charles I's Lord Treasurer Sir Richard Weston for his house at Mortlake Park, Roehampton. Cast in 1633 by Hubert Le Sueur, the Portland Stone pedestal is by Joshua Marshall carved in 1674-5 when the statue was moved to this position. It is Grade I listed, number 1357291. To the left of the statue is an 1880 cast-iron lamp standard and vent with an ornate bell-shaped base decorated with griffins. Surmounted by an urn on which stand a group of three putti holding festoons and forming the base of the shaft which carries three lamps on curved, scroll-ornamented brackets. It is Grade II* listed, number 1066283. On the northern side of the square is The National Gallery built 1832-38 by William Wilkins, to house The Angerstein Collection of paintings purchased by the government for The Royal Academy. The central Corinthian portico is raised on a podium wall with flanking steps and set back behind the portico pediment is a stone cupola dome. The secondary Corinthian porticoes have parapets raised over a central bay. The terminal pavilions have pairs of giant pilasters surmounted by small octagonal stone cupolas with pierced work openings. It is Grade I listed, number 1066236. On the north-eastern corner of the square is the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The earliest reference to the church is from 1222, and Henry VIII rebuilt the church in 1542 to keep plague victims in the area from having to pass through his Palace of Whitehall. By 1710 the walls and roof were in a state of decay, and in 1720, Parliament passed an act for the rebuilding of the church allowing for a sum of up to £22,000, to be raised by a rate on the parishioners. The current church was built 1722-26 to a neoclassical design by James Gibbs in Portland Stone with a staged tower and steeple rising above a Classical Corinthian portico. It is Grade I listed, number 1217661. On the right, on the corner of Trafalgar Square and the Strand, is the newly built South Africa House, constructed on the site of Morley's Hotel. South Africa became fully sovereign from the United Kingdom in 1931 with the passage of the Statute of Westminster which abolished the last powers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate on the country. Built by Sir Herbert Baker and Alexander Thomson Scott. It has a steel frame, infilled with reinforced concrete panels and faced with Portland Stone, set on a granite base. In Classical style, with arts and crafts-inspired carved details of indigenous beasts and symbols of South Africa by Joseph Armitage to the designs of Sir Charles Wheeler. It has seven storeys, two attic storeys, cornice and balustrade, and the main elevation facing Trafalgar Square is thirteen windows wide. It is Grade II* listed, number 1066238. Pedestrians are waiting to cross the road.
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