Bust

Knightsbridge - 1 - Edward VII

Erection date: 1905

Site: Knightsbridge - 6 busts (6 memorials)

SW1, Knightsbridge, 55 - 91

This huge building, Grade 2 listed and in need of a clean, is actually 18 buildings behind a unifying facade designed by W. D. Caroe, in red brick with stone dressings in an eclectic Queen Anne/Flemish style. 1902 - 5. Built as a mansion block but unusually there were seven developers who designed their own segments behind the facade.

A 2010 planning application contains a few drawings and early photographs but there is no mention of these busts, numbered here left to right.  

When we published these 6 busts we were pretty confident with our identification of heads 1 and 2 but were struggling to identify the others.  Readers quickly sent in some helpful suggestions, readers more familiar with the faces of celebrities from that period than we are.  So we have corrected our identifications, but if you think we still have it wrong please let us know.

The second floor corner at Wilton Place carries a rather splendid royal crest with the top-most lion looking more like a lap-dog.

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 1 - Edward VII

Subjects commemorated i

King Edward VII

Reigned: 1901 - 1910. Born and died at Buckingham Palace. Victoria's eldest s...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 1 - Edward VII

Also at this site i

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Stephen Brasher suggested that this is Field Marshal Lord Roberts and, having...

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Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Stalin?  Can't be - for so many reasons, one being that he didn't look like t...

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Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

We original thought this was Gladstone (who had died only a few years before)...

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Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Lea Cornthwaite suggested this might be the Duke of Cambridge. Stephen Brashe...

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Nearby Memorials

Giotto

Giotto

W9, Blomfield Road, 25

This entrance is in Randolph Road. We can find nothing about this bust and have no explanation for its presence here. A legal decision p...

1 subject commemorated
Unidentified head - gentleman

Unidentified head - gentleman

SW1, Cockspur Street, 25 (about)

This gentleman and his lady friend may just be anonymous, off-the-shelf heads but they look like portraits to us.

2 subjects commemorated
Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

SW1, Knightsbridge, 55 - 91

We original thought this was Gladstone (who had died only a few years before) but Lea Cornthwaite has suggested Frederick Temple, pointin...

1 subject commemorated
Christabel Pankhurst

Christabel Pankhurst

SW1, Abingdon Street, Victoria Tower Gardens

We double checked the "1881" - that is what is carved, it's not our mistype. She was born September 1880.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Hitchcock bust

Hitchcock bust

N1, Poole Street, Gainsborough Studios

There's a suggestion in the sculpture that the face is actually a mask.

1 subject commemorated, 37 creators