Bust

Sanctuary - head on right - Albert

Erection date: 1854

Site: Westminster Sanctuary (4 memorials)

SW1, Broad Sanctuary, The Sanctuary, 1-8 Broad Sanctuary

The building is Grade II listed, a terrace of Bath stone buildings incorporating gateway to Dean's Yard. 1853-54 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Some sources say these were built as houses which seems unlikely but they are certainly now used as offices.

Niches in the turrets, at first floor, house two very similar statues. The spandrels of the gateway are decorated with two roundels with portrait heads, one of which is crowned. These all seem to represent particular individuals but we can find no information, so we have to guess.

The statues are crowned and each clutches a model building, with slightly different fenestration. So we think they are the two kings central to the creation of Westminster Abbey: Edward the Confessor who, in 1042-52, (re)built St Peter's Abbey here, and Henry III who, in 1245, began the building of the current Abbey. Comparative beard lengths seem to corroborate our theory.

And the two heads must represent Victoria and Albert: the female wears a crown and the male doesn't, the date of the building, they even look like some of their portraits.

The memorial column in our photo is covered on its own page: Westminster School - old boys.

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:
Sanctuary - head on right - Albert

Subjects commemorated i

Prince Albert

Born Schloss Rosenau, Coburg, Germany, as Albert Francis Augustus Charles Ema...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Sanctuary - head on right - Albert

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Colonial Office - B02 - Henry I

Colonial Office - B02 - Henry I

SW1, Whitehall, Foreign Office

Statues Hither and Thither has been invaluable in identifying some of the busts and most of the statues. The statues are not labelled and...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Emery Hill bust

Emery Hill bust

SW1, Rochester Row, 38

The plaque immediately below the bust is blank but there are 4 others below that, each with an inscription.  The text of the upper three ...

6 subjects commemorated
Grosvenor Hotel - head 01

Grosvenor Hotel - head 01

SW1, Buckingham Palace Road, Grosvenor Hotel

This 1860 building, by architect James Knowles Snr, is studded with many portrait busts of which we believe only these 14 are representat...

Hogarth - Harrow on the Hill

Hogarth - Harrow on the Hill

HA1, Grove Hill, Art School

Looking to connect Hogarth with Harrow we found: c.1800 Crown Street in Harrow was named Hogarth Lane; and Hogarth painted the Graham Chi...

1 subject commemorated
Queen Victoria bust - SW3

Queen Victoria bust - SW3

SW3, Tryon Street, 27, Queen's Head pub

What Pub tells a sorry tale: "Built in 1840. ... pub closed on 7 Sept. 2016 ... Planning app dated 03 Aug 2018: Change of use of first an...

1 subject commemorated