Sculpture

St Michael's School, Chester Square - statue

When you have a winged character overpowering a dragon - who is it - St Michael or St George? 

Here we have St Michael. Our confidence comes from the existence of St Michael's (National) School on this site. As happens quite often, we think that when the school was demolished to make way for this rather dull 50s (?) block they rescued this piece of sculpture and placed it here in memory of the school.

Two thirds of this block, the northern part, used to be occupied by St Michael's (National) School - see 1891 map. This map shows a detached property at the centre of the southern part of the site, surrounded by, presumably, gardens. Another 1901 map shows the same arrangement. Both maps show the fountain on the corner. It's likely that the detached property had been subsumed into the school by the time the whole block was redeveloped.

Trying to find an image of the school (and failing) we kept finding it described as "St Michael's Chester Square". Certainly the church, St Michael's, is in nearby Chester Square (to the north). We can only think that the school was named after the church, including the address. Perhaps it started in a small building in Chester Square and kept the name when it moved to this much larger site. Either way it confused us and probably confused lots of people at the time.

We found a presentation book on eBay which confirms that "St Michael's School, Chester Square, London SW1" still existed in 1953.

2022: IanVisits says that the detached property was the St Michael's vicarage, last occupant Rev. James Fleming. That seems extremely likely, but we still can't find an image of it.

Site: Richard Grosvenor fountain (2 memorials)

SW1, Pimlico Road

The 1954 film 'Cocktails in the Kitchen' has Dirk Bogarde and wife living in a one-room flat in the Cundy Street flats near here and, at about 30 mins in, the camera pans past this junction showing this fountain and the statue exactly as they now are.

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
St Michael's School, Chester Square - statue

Subjects commemorated i

St Michael's School and Vicarage

Associated with St Michael's church, Chester Square.

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
St Michael's School, Chester Square - statue

Also at this site i

Richard Grosvenor fountain

Richard Grosvenor fountain

'EMW' are the initials of the Marquess's wife, Elizabeth Mary who died 1891, ...

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Nearby Memorials

Gertrude & Harold Baillie Weaver

Gertrude & Harold Baillie Weaver

NW1, Inner Circle, Regent's Park, St John's Lodge Garden

The statue is known as 'The Shepherdess' and is signed "C.L. Hartwell. R.A." It appeared, as 'The Goatherd's Daughter', on one of the car...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Castle Tavern - EC2

Castle Tavern - EC2

EC2, Gresham Street, 11

Odd that 'castle' lacks a capital letter. The text and the framing for this sculpture are modern. It would be interesting to know where i...

1 subject commemorated
The Vintners

The Vintners

EC4, Little Trinity Lane

Believed to be the first public sculpture in London commissioned by a Livery Company. We would have expected the inscriptions (WDR and W...

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators
Peace Crane

Peace Crane

NW6, Maygrove Road, Maygrove Peace Park

A photo on a nearby information board shows the statue surrounded by children and with a plaque on the front. We believe that the plaque ...

Civilian war dead | WW2
3 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
There but not there

There but not there

NW6, Queen's Park

The south-east corner of this park is a fenced off formal garden, through which one can walk. We visited on the Saturday before Remembran...

1 subject commemorated