Cupola
Edward William Mountford (1855-1908)
1900-07
Portland stone
The Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey
London EC4
This is Mountford's most celebrated work, Edwardian Baroque rather than Victorian in character, and with a cupola reminiscent of St Paul's. Mountford's style has been compared to T. E. Collcutt's and Aston Webb's as "turgid Renaissance" (Turner 111; cf. Collcutt's Palace Theatre, and Webb's Victoria and Albert Museum) [continued below].
Other views
Photograph 2009 by Jacqueline Banerjee.
p class="one"> Mountford wished to produce a "thoroughly English" design (Ward-Jackson 62) and therefore chose F. W. Pomeroy and Alfred Turner, two sculptors who had both been students at the City and Guilds South London Technical School, for the architectural sculpture. Pomeroy's bronze gilt Justice on the cupola is a familiar landmark. Over the entrance are the City of London Arms, and above that is a group of figures by Pomeroy: Fortitude to the left holds a sword, the hooded recording angel in the middle is writing on a scroll, and Truth on the right looks in a mirror. The allegorical frieze above the windows is by Turner (see Ward-Jackson 62).
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References
Turnor, Reginald. Nineteenth Century Architecture in Britain. London: Batsford, 1950.
Ward-Jackson, Philip. Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Last modified 16 June 2009