Relief

Lloyds of London 1958 building

Inscription

{At bottom right:}
James Woodford R.A.

Phillip Ward-Jackson in his encyclopaedic "Public Sculpture in the City of London" identifies these reliefs as representing the four elements, clockwise from top left: Fire, Air, Earth, Water. In Water the female figure rings the Lutine Bell, which actually happens in Lloyd of London whenever a ship goes down (although the ringer is probably a man with more clothes on). There were 85 other (smaller) pieces of Woodford's work on this building. Let's hope they also have been rescued and are perhaps on display inside the Willis building.

Site: Lloyds of London 1958 building (1 memorial)

EC3, Gracechurch Street

From Wikipedia "In the 1950s Woodford made a set of reliefs representing the four elements for the Lloyds building in Lime Street in the City of London. They were placed very high up; Arthur Byron in "London's Statues" describes them as "barely visible."[7] Following the demolition of the building they were installed on a wall at street level as part of the landscaping of the Willis Building on the same site."

2023: The Guardian reported: "The insurance titan Lloyd’s of London, multibillion pound cornerstone of the City’s wealth, power and renown, has taken steps since 2020 to admit its immense historic involvement in slavery, and has published powerful research on the evidence in its archives."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Lloyds of London 1958 building

Subjects commemorated i

Lloyd's of London 1958 building

Occupied the Lime Street, Billiter Street and Fenchurch Avenue block. The sec...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Lloyds of London 1958 building

Created by i

James Woodford

Sculptor,RA. James Arthur Woodford, born Nottingham. There are some lovely ex...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Hungarian uprising

Hungarian uprising

SW7, Exhibition Road, 55

In memory of the victims of the Hungarian uprising of 1956.

1 subject commemorated
Festival of Britain - Symbol

Festival of Britain - Symbol

W1, Oxford Street, 213

This building was put up in 1951 by architects Ronald Ward and Partners. Ornamental Passions has an excellent report on the building.

1 subject commemorated
Novello's printing works - music

Novello's printing works - music

W1, Hollen Street

These reliefs are high up, at either end of the building. Not really memorials so normally we would not have collected these lovely cheru...

1 subject commemorated
Beaufoy Institute - relief

Beaufoy Institute - relief

SE11, Black Prince Road, 39

The cartouches are on the two gables on the front elevation. Speel informs that the relief and the plain inscribed stone were moved here ...

1 creator
Royal Albert Hall frieze

Royal Albert Hall frieze

SW7, Kensington Road

This ornate frieze, titled "The Triumph of Art and Letters", encircles the building. It is 244 metres long, designed by members of the R...

3 subjects commemorated, 7 creators