Other

Magic Square

Inscription

16, 3, 2, 13
5, 10, 11, 8
9, 6, 7, 12
4, 15, 14, 1 

Site: Magic Square (1 memorial)

WC1, John Street, 21, Haines House

Not your standard Bloomsbury terrace, this Art Deco development has always interested us but now it's got us really puzzled.  We've noticed that one of the floozies up the top of the pillars is holding a 4 x 4 magic square.  At the Wikipedia entry for these things we learn that our magic square is known as the 'Chautisa Yantra'.  There are many different types and the explanation of how to construct a magic square "of doubly even order" rather lost us, but we are sure you will have no trouble.  There's one on the Sagrada Família and Albrecht Durer included one in an engraving, but we don't know why there is one on this Bloomsbury building.  
Haines House was built in 1938 as Mytre House and was a speculative development, so the first occupants, Linotype & Machinery Ltd, are unlikely to have had any influence on the design.  Its listing entry says "sculptural embellishment: two engaged pylons with sculpted tops flanking the main entrance" and gives some information about the architect, Denis Edmund Harrington, but nothing that explains the magic square. Two other bits of info: the lady atop the other pylon is holding an hour-glass.  In her other hand our lady is holding an astrolabe, an astronomical instrument (thanks to Rocker Ages for identifying this object).  We've loaded three more pictures on our Facebook page.  We asked Discovering London, who seems a well-informed chap, but he's stumped as well.  Looking for connections between magic squares and astrolabes we found ourselves on a feng shui site and decided to abandon the search.  They are both ancient ideas with roots in Arabia but we are no closer to explaining why they are here.

2014: Ornamental Passions reached this building.  Now, we thought, we will get an answer, but OP, while addressing the question, doesn't solve it either.

Nearby Memorials

Eagle Tavern - song

Eagle Tavern - song

N1, Shepherdess Place, The Eagle pub

Up and down the City Road In and out the Eagle That's the way the money goes Pop! Goes the weasel.

2 subjects commemorated
Time Flies clock tower and drinking fountain

Time Flies clock tower and drinking fountain

W8, Broad Walk, Kensington Gardens

This inscription fails to name the person(s) who erected this substantial memorial, nor does it name the dedicatees. The British Newspap...

2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Malcolm Craddock

Malcolm Craddock

NW3, Elsworthy Road, St Mary's, Primrose Hill

Erected between 2015 and 2019.

1 subject commemorated
Marc Bolan shrine - noticeboard

Marc Bolan shrine - noticeboard

SW13, Queen's Ride

This site has evolved over the years from flowers place around the tree to become the shrine that it is today.  The steps were probably i...

1 subject commemorated
Burlington House colonnade

Burlington House colonnade

SW11, Battersea Park

Even in our rather dismal photo you can see that there is a hill here, in an otherwise uniformly flat Park. Why is this hill here? We cam...