Erection date: 20/3/1935
Thomas Telford (1757 - 1834) engineer, lived here.
LCC
Telford's plaque was recovered by the LCC in 1959, and donated to the Institution of Civil Engineers, which he had founded, where it was re-erected in 1980.
We thank Steve Roffey for his work on the history of this plaque. See also Wikipedia’s page of lost English Heritage plaques.
Site: Thomas Telford - Abingdon Street - lost (1 memorial)
SW1, Abingdon Street, Abingdon Street Gardens
This memorial was moved from here to a new location.
Telford lived at number 24 Abingdon Street. London Picture Archive has this 1933 photo: "Oblique view of 18-29 Abingdon Street, Westminster, looking south". Zoom in and, pleasingly, you can just see the plaque. The numbers run right to left: 18, 19, etc. with number 23 having the distinctive white roof-top pediment. Zoom in and you can see that the next house, 24, has a round something between the two ground floor windows - Telford's plaque.
This c.1893 map shows the houses in Abingdon Street at that time.
The house was later used as the office of the National Association of Local Government Officers. Abingdon Street was damaged in WW2. Post-war all the houses were demolished and the current gardens were created 1963-5, over a two-storey underground car park. The gardens are known as College Green and are a favourite site for political interviews.
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