Bust

Old Westminster Library - head 1 - Spenser

We first thought Francis Bacon but he normally has more hair, and, so far, all the heads are literary rather than scientific.

Site: Old Westminster Library - 6 heads (7 memorials)

SW1, Great Smith Street

The foundation stone is immediately to the right of the central entrance.

Above the entrance: "Westminster Public Library, The united parishes of St Margaret and St John the Evangelist, AD 1893". In 1985 this building was threatened with demolition and was only saved by a campaign which brought about the Thorney Island Society.

The Listing identifies the heads for us, and we've numbered them left to right.

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Old Westminster Library - head 1 - Spenser

Subjects commemorated i

Edmund Spenser

Poet. Probably born in East or West Smithfield. Best known for the epic poem...

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Old Westminster Library - head 1 - Spenser

Also at this site i

Old Westminster Library - foundation stone

Westminster Public Library The united parishes of St Margaret and St John the...

Old Westminster Library - head 5 - Milton

The hair seems a bit too curly but the sad eyes are right.

Show all 6

See other memorials in the area

Nearby Memorials

Caxton Hall - head 1 - Milton

SW1, Caxton Street, 10, Caxton Hall

But look at head 8 too, that's also a candidate for Milton.

1 subject commemorated

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Drill Hall - head 5 - African/Indian soldier

W1, Chenies Street, Drill Hall

In the spandrels above the entrance door: "Bloomsbury Rifles Pro Patria Semper" ('for my country always'). The technique used for this le...

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Bermondsey Library - 4 - Milton

SE16, Spa Road, Old Bermondsey Library / Kagyu Samye Dzong Buddhist centre

The busts are on the keystones of the library first floor window arches, numbered left to right. Ornamental Passions has posted about th...

1 subject commemorated

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John F. Kennedy bust - Marylebone Road

W1, Marylebone Road, 1, International Students' Hostel

The original bust was first installed in 1965 in Military Park, Newark, New Jersey. Additional bronzes were cast for this site and for th...

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators

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Paul Reuter bust

EC4, Royal Exchange Buildings

This style of bust, called a herm bust, originated in ancient Greece. Oddly, male genitalia are sometimes carved on the plain section, in...

2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators

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Previously viewed

John Waggett's water fountain

W11, Lansdowne Crescent

The Ladbroke Conservation Area Appraisal says: "Outside St John’s church is an item of street furniture that is very rare in London. The ...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator

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John Ortelli

Giovanni Battista Ortelli was a successful Italian businessman who founded the Italian Hospital Queen Square. The badly deteriorated Ortelli family vault is at St Mary's RC Cemetery, NW10. There y...

Person, Benefactor, Italy

1 memorial

Putney Bridge

The first bridge crossing the river here was constructed in wood and opened in November 1729. Badly damaged by a boat in 1870 it was repaired but then completely replaced, with the stone structure ...

Building, Transport

1 memorial

Walter Soares

Pilot Officer Walter Gordon Soares was born on 19 December 1918 in Brawley, Imperial County, California, USA, the eldest of the four children of Alberto Gualter Soares (1881-1956) and Irma E. Soare...

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War dead, WW2

1 memorial

J. Lancaster

Person

War dead, WW1

1 memorial