[(1) Photographs by the author. (2) Click on thumbnails for larger images. (3) You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (a) credit the photographer and (b) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.
Waterhouse's Natural History Museum, London, seen over Chelsea rooftops. Click on image to enlarge it. View from ninth floor, Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, London SW1. Photograph April 2015. Seen from this angle, the museum resembles a cathedral, which in a sense it is — a cathedral dedication to Darwin and evolution by natural selection.
This distant view of the museum under different light conditions
Left to right: A view from an angle opposite to that shown above. Middle: The roofline showing some of the elaborate spiral chimneys. Right: The entrance with two signs declaring "Mortimer House."
Central tower and main entrance. (b) Façade, with considerable use of polychromy. (c) Detail, main entrance. (d) Columns at main entrance.
Carved details on the exterior
Carved mice. (b) Carved pheasants. (c) Details on feet of columns(the head of a small mammal, and a leaf). All carving, from Waterhouse's detailed drawings, was by Farmer & Brindley (see Read 243).
(a) A grotesque bird. Something between a pelican and a vulture, this is ready to swoop from its perch below a window ledge. (b) A monkey capital. (c) Lion and sea serpents.]
Related material
- The interior of the Natural History Museum
- Interior architectural sculpture: plants and animals
- Victorian Natural History Museums and the Display of Knowledge
Reference
Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1982.
Last modified 6 June 2021