George John Vulliamy, the superintending architect of the Metropolitan Board of Water, created these electric lamps that stretch along the Thames in 1870. Although they are referred to as dolphins – possibly because they are supposed to be modelled on dolphin sculptures that are part of the Fontana del Nettuno in Rome – they are actually sturgeons.
MOSTYN Art Gallery – the building on the right in the below picture – is a contemporary art gallery in Llandudno, Wales. The history of the gallery begins in 1895 in Conwy with the Gwynedd Ladies’ Art Society. They asked the philanthropist and photographer Lady Augusta Mostyn to secure new premises for them and this building became the home of the society from 1901 to 1903. Women were not permitted in the male artist’s societies so this is possibly the first art gallery dedicated to exclusively exhibiting work by female artists in the world. Interestingly that wasn’t the original intention of Lady Augusta who wanted it to be a space for local people to use (many of the Society members were actually based elsewhere in the UK) and eventually the Society was asked to leave.
Representing Boadicea (or Boudica or Boudicca or any other manner of spellings), the queen of a British Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the Romans in AD 60-61, this sculpture can be found by Westminster Bridge opposite Big Ben. It was created by Thomas Thornycroft with help from his son William and was commissioned in the 1850s but not completed until 1898, over ten years after the sculptor had died. It was installed at the bridge in 1902.
This striking clock in Colwyn Bay was presented to the town by Andrew Fraser’s parents in 1989. Andrew was a musician who played violin in the Welsh National Youth Orchestra. He died in Brussels in 1984 at the age of 33.
This lovely statue was created by Pieter d’Hont and was placed here next to the Singel Canal in 1996. She’s apparently inspired by someone the artist knew and he’d made several copies by the time this one was part of a sculpture route around the city and then later moved to its present location.
Part of an ongoing series, here are some doors from Liverpool. The first is the door of the Octagon Chapel which dates from 1763.
The Palace Theatre was built in 1922 by a local business woman called Emily Bragg. It sits on the site of the Chauntry House which was a former residence of Queen Anne. Originally it was opened as a cinema but also with a stage and an orchestra pit.
This statue, known as both “My Children” and “Two Pupils”, represents children from the Royal Military Asylum that was based at the Duke Of York’s Square, London. It’s full title was the Royal Military Asylum for the Children of Soldiers of the Regular Army and mostly educated children who were orphans or who had fathers serving overseas.
A Grade II* listed building near Westminster Bridge, it used to be the headquarters of the London and Greater London Councils. Built of Portland stone in an Edwardian Baroque style its construction began in 1911 and it was opened by George V in 1922. After 1986 it ceased its council function and the building was sold – it now houses several businesses including the Sea Life London Aquarium and two hotels.
A Grade II* building The Tower was built in 1908 as an office block; it was converted to apartments in 2006. The architect was W. Aubrey Thomas, the same man that designed the Royal Liver Building.
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