View of Trafalgar Square, City of Westminster, looking north. 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. At the southeast corner of the square is a statue of General Sir Henry Havelock, cast in bronze in 1861 by W. Behnes. Havelock was a British general who is associated with India and his recapture of Cawnpore during the 1857 First Indian War of Independence (Sepoy Mutiny). It is Grade II* listed, number 1217599. At the north-east corner, a statue of George IV on horseback by Sir Francis Chantrey and T. Earle. A bronze statue cast in 1829 for the Marble Arch in its original setting as the entrance to Buckingham Palace and moved to this site in 1843. It is Grade II* listed, number 1275350. 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 left, northeast 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. In St Martin's Lane, The Coliseum Theatre, home of the English National Opera, with a stepped dome surmounted by a (formerly revolving) large metal and glass globe. Built as The Grand theatre in 1902-04 by Frank Matcham, for Oswald Stoll, with exuberant Free Baroque ambitious design. It was the Edwardian "Theatre de Luxe of London" with richly decorated interiors and a vast and grandiose auditorium. It is Grade II* listed, number 1236022. In the foreground is a Citroen and a number 15 Routemaster bus to Paddington. There are several pedestrians and, in the square, a small hut from which bird seed was sold to tourists to encourage pigeons. In 2001 the London Mayor Ken Livingstone described the pigeons as “flying rats” and said their acidic waste was causing £140,000 worth of damage to Nelson’s Column annually and withdrew the licence of all the bird food sellers.
