Statue

This statue is on the first floor in the atrium of the building. You can see it from the upper deck of a bus in the Strand. There is a poorer view as you stand in reception being told that you are allowed no further, and certainly no photographs. But we persevered and must thank Coutts & Co, for both photographs and for the information about the inscriptions.

Remodelled in the 1970s, the architecture is interesting and puzzling. Gibberd says "Coutts bank was the UKs first atrium building...". It may also be an early example of facadism since there appears to be nothing left of any original interiors. However Gibberd also says: "The original centre sections of each façade were lost at the beginning of this century {the 20th we think} and two of them have been reconstructed in the style of Nash." Which left us unsure what buildings were here before the regeneration.

A photo at Alamy solved the puzzle. Captioned "Coutt's Bank, The Strand, London, 1904. In 1904 Coutt's Bank moved to purpose-built offices at 440 The Strand, London, designed by J MacVicar Anderson. The terrace to either side was designed by John Nash in 1831." The Coutts buildings is a traditional grand bank in the classical Palladian style.  There is also a photo of the banking hall.

You can still see some of the building. Wikipedia has "The garden of his {the architect Frederick Gibberd's} personal home at Marsh Lane (Gibberd Garden), on the outskirts of Harlow, a mixture of formal and informal design, contains architectural elements salvaged from his reconstruction of Coutts Bank in London." This garden and house are open to the public.

Coutts' history page has: "Today you’ll find our HQ on The Strand in London, where it all began in 1692. We’ve been based at number 440 since 1904. The building has seen three renovations in that time...". Wikipedia is clear that the bank moved to number 440 in 1904 and does not mention any renovation other than that in the 1970s.