Bust

Kilburn head - 2 - Handel

Erection date: 1890

Site: Four musical heads - Kilburn (4 memorials)

NW6, Kilburn High Road, 70-72 Traid

We've numbered these heads left to right and identified them ourselves. Do let us know if you think otherwise. The building is very plain and these portrait octagons are not integrated into any design, just placed on the blank brick walls between the first floor windows, like an afterthought.

West Hampstead Life has the story on this building: In 1890 Alfred Phillips, already successfully publishing music and running a music shop at 43 Kilburn High Road (opposite what is now the modern Kilburn Library), bought numbers 70-72 Kilburn High Road. "He demolished the two existing shops and built one large warehouse with room for 70 pianos on the ground floor. The architect was E.A. Heffer and the builder H.B. Oldrey of Kilburn. Four composer’s heads (Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven), are still visible at first floor level."

Without West Hampstead Life's list of the 4 busts we would not have been able to identify them.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Kilburn head - 2 - Handel

Subjects commemorated i

George Frideric Handel

Composer. Born Halle, Germany. Became Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Kilburn head - 2 - Handel

Created by i

Alfred Phillips

Composer, publisher, piano dealer. Alfred William Phillips was born in Whitec...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Kilburn head - 2 - Handel

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Paul Reuter bust

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
Queen Mother - Grocers' Hall

Queen Mother - Grocers' Hall

EC2, Princes Street, Grocers' Hall

Artnet shows that a copy of this bust, by Nemon, was for sale by auction at some point. The Worshipful Company of Grocers' website mentio...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Charles Darwin bust

Charles Darwin bust

WC1, Gower Street, UCL Biological Sciences Building

This website gives more detailed information about the creation of the bust. In 2011, the Grant Museum moved from its previous location ...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Greenwich roundels - Howard

Greenwich roundels - Howard

SE10, King William Walk, Discover Greenwich (Royal Naval College, Pepys Building)

The roundels on the north, river-facing, frontage are occupied by, left to right: Anson, Drake, Cook, Howard, Blake, Benbow, Sandwich, Ro...

1 subject commemorated
Hyde Park Barracks - Somerset and Raglan

Hyde Park Barracks - Somerset and Raglan

SW7, Kengsinton Road, Hyde Park Barracks - Officers' Mess

These two must be Somerset and Raglan but which is which we can't tell you.

2 subjects commemorated