Keystone

ICI - 5 - Nobel

Inscription

Alfred Nobel

Site: Imperial Chemical House - 9 portrait keystones (10 memorials)

SW1, Millbank, 9, Imperial Chemical House

For an idea of what this area used to be like see this 1894ish map. It was all redeveloped following the 1928 flood. This block was designed by Sir Frank Baines and built in 1929-31 as HQ for Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI). Aka 'Nobel House' it is now, 2016, occupied by Ofgem, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. The frontage boasts 9 portrait keystones of chemists and ICI directors: Cavendish is on the Horseferry Road frontage, Mendeleeff on the junction corner, the other 7 are on the river side, left to right: Lavoisier, McGowan, Nobel, Alfred Mond (ICI), Ludwig Mond, Priestley, Liebig. Each 5th floor keystone decorates an integrated window arrangement with the identifying name on the 4th floor balcony. In his book on London statues Osbert Sitwell reports a journalist  writing that these "masks" are "four times life-size" but he also writes that they are "seven storeys above the ground" so we have to allow for some exaggeration.

On the 5th floor are four magnificent statues by Charles Sergeant Jagger. See A London Inheritance for photos. As well as these keystones Fagan did most of the other sculpture on the building, including the massive bronze entrance doors.

2017: We watched the 1947 film "Mine Own Executioner" which uses a few London locations. We recognised that of the last scene - a suicide at the top of a building - and thought it might be this one. But it's actually the MI5 building immediately to the south of Lambeth Bridge, Thames House, which was built by ICI at the same time as IC House and not used by MI5 until 1994.

There are two more portrait keystones on Nobel House, behind this building.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
ICI - 5 - Nobel

Subjects commemorated i

Alfred Nobel

Chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer.  Invented dynamite,...

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This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
ICI - 5 - Nobel

Created by i

William Bateman Fagan

Born Bermondsey. Andrew Behan's researches have found that when he was baptis...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
ICI - 5 - Nobel

Also at this site i

Faraday on the ICI building entrance doors

Faraday on the ICI building entrance doors

These doors are in the centre of the river frontage of the building. Mapping...

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Nearby Memorials

ICI - 1 - Cavendish

ICI - 1 - Cavendish

SW1, Millbank, 9, Imperial Chemical House

For an idea of what this area used to be like see this 1894ish map. It was all redeveloped following the 1928 flood. This block was desig...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Hugo Wood keystone

Hugo Wood keystone

WC2, Southampton Buildings, Old Patent Office

But who is he? Is this his portrait? He looks rather wild. We can't identify him.

Carpenters' Hall - unknown

Carpenters' Hall - unknown

EC2, London Wall, 1 Throgmorton Avenue

The building projects over the pavement with an arched colonnade for pedestrians. On the keystone of each arch, at the ends and along the...

Martini Beati - keystone head

Martini Beati - keystone head

EC3, Change Alley

His ringlets are formed by coins. Loose copies of an old penny are placed at the bottom corners: head (a young Victoria) at the left, tai...

ICI - 7 - Ludwig Mond

ICI - 7 - Ludwig Mond

SW1, Millbank, 9, Imperial Chemical House

For an idea of what this area used to be like see this 1894ish map. It was all redeveloped following the 1928 flood. This block was desig...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator

Previously viewed

Church House - foundation stone

Church House - foundation stone

SW1, Deans Yard, Church House

The four plaques are located as follows: To the left of the entrance - 1937 foundation, To the right of the entrance - opened 1940 (can ...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Cornelius Barham

Cornelius Barham

Churchwarden of Christ Church Spitalfields, 1873 - 77 at least. Possibly the grocer who occupied nearby 56 Artillery Lane in 1859 - 1904.  We also found Raven Road, Spitalfields given for him in 1877.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Hayes Place

Hayes Place

From the picture source: "Site of a house since the 15th century, in 1754 William Pitt the elder, later Earl of Chatham, bought the property, subsequently rebuilding it. The birthplace of his son,...

Building, Property

1 memorial
Lieutenant Bernard Henry Gilbert Shaw

Lieutenant Bernard Henry Gilbert Shaw

Bernard Henry Gilbert Shaw was born on 11 October 1893 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, the second of the ten children of the Reverend Edward Domett Shaw (1860-1937) and Agnes Shaw née Gilbey ...

Person, Armed Forces, France

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Dr. Robert Willan
1 memorial