List of public art formerly in London

This page lists public artworks which used to exist in London, but which have either been destroyed or removed to another place. Works which have been moved within London are not included, nor are temporary installations such as those on the Fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square. However, where one statue has been removed and replaced by another similar one, the former is included in this list.

Works removed or lost

Image	Title / subject	Location and coordinates	Date	Artist / designer	Architect / other	Type	Designation	Notes
More images	The Charing Cross Eleanor of Castile	Charing Cross	1291– c. 1294	Abingdon, AlexanderAlexander Abingdon	Richard of Crundale and Roger of Crundale	Commemorative cross	N/A	The costliest and most elaborate of the Eleanor crosses marking the sites where the Queen’s funeral cortège rested on the way to her burial at Westminster Abbey. The master mason Richard of Crundale died in 1293, after which the work was taken up by his brother Roger. The cross was destroyed under the orders of Parliament in 1647.[1]
	Statue of George I	Leicester Square	c. 1722	Nost the Elder, JohnJohn Nost the Elder	N/A	Equestrian statue	N/A	A gilded lead replica of Nost's bronze equestrian statue, erected in Dublin in 1722 and now outside the Barber Institute, Birmingham. The horse was cast from Hubert Le Sueur's Charles I at Charing Cross. Purchased at the Cannons sale of 1747 and installed in the Square the following year. From the 1780s the statue was neglected and frequently vandalised; by the late nineteenth century only the horse remained, which was sold for £16.[2]
	Statue of George I	Grosvenor Square	c. 1722	Nost the Elder, JohnJohn Nost the Elder	N/A	Equestrian statue	N/A	Also of lead, this was probably from the same model as the Leicester Square statue. Bought from Nost's workshop by Sir Richard Grosvenor in 1725.[3]
	Statue of Prince William, Duke of Cumberland	Cavendish Square	1770	Cheere, 1st Baronet, Sir HenrySir Henry Cheere, 1st Baronet	N/A	Equestrian statue	N/A	Cheere produced a bronzed lead statuette of the Duke of Cumberland (now in the National Army Museum) in around 1745. In 1770 a full-scale statue differing slightly from this model was erected in Cavendish Square; it was removed in 1868 and melted down.[4] In the summer of 2012 a replica made of soap by the Korean artist Meekyoung Shin was installed on the plinth (still in situ) and allowed to erode over the course of a year.[5] The display was later extended by a further six months to the end of 2013 and other versions were installed in the grounds of the South Korean National Museum of Contemporary Art[6] and at MoCA Taipei.[7]
More images	Statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington	Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner	1840–6	Wyatt, Matthew CotesMatthew Cotes Wyatt	Burton, DecimusDecimus Burton	Equestrian statue	Grade II	Wyatt’s statue was installed on the Wellington Arch on 30 September 1846. It was regarded as a failure on aesthetic grounds and its gigantic size—​​30 ft high and 26 ft wide—​​was felt to be excessive for the commemoration of a single individual. It was removed to the military town of Aldershot, Hampshire, when the arch’s orientation was changed in 1883.[8]
	Statue of James McGrigor	Atterbury Street, Millbank (1909–2003)	1865	Noble, MatthewMatthew Noble	N/A	Statue	Grade II	Unveiled 18 November 1865 at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Moved in 1909 to the newly built Royal Army Medical College, which became the Chelsea College of Arts in 2003. The statue was then relocated to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.[9]
	Bust of William Hogarth	Leicester Square	1874	Durham, JosephJoseph Durham	Knowles, JamesJames Knowles	Bust	Grade II	One of four busts of historical residents of the area, installed as part of Knowles’s redesign of the gardens, which were removed in 2010–12. This bust originally stood in the south-eastern corner of the square, near where Hogarth had a house from 1733 until his death in 1764,[10] but moved to the north-east in the 1989–92 refurbishment of the square.[11]
	Bust of John Hunter	Leicester Square	1874	Woolner, ThomasThomas Woolner	Knowles, JamesJames Knowles	Bust	Grade II	Hunter lived at 28 Leicester Square from 1783 to 1793.[12] Albert Grant, the owner of Leicester Square in 1874, originally commissioned Woolner to sculpt a bust of Samuel Johnson, who frequented Reynolds’s house on the square (q.v.). Grant was, however, persuaded by the Royal College of Surgeons to honour Hunter instead. The bust originally stood in the north-eastern corner of the square but changed places with the bust of Hogarth in the south-east when the square was refurbished in 1989–92.[11]
	Bust of Isaac Newton	Leicester Square	1874	Marshall, William CalderWilliam Calder Marshall	Knowles, JamesJames Knowles	Bust	Grade II	Newton lived nearby, on 35 St Martin’s Street, from 1710 to 1725.[13] The bust was formerly in the south-western corner of the gardens.[11]
	Bust of Joshua Reynolds	Leicester Square	1874	Weekes, HenryHenry Weekes	Knowles, JamesJames Knowles	Bust	Grade II	Formerly stood in the north-western corner of the gardens, a site close to 47 Leicester Square,[14] where Reynolds lived from 1760 until his death in 1792.[15]
	Poets’ Fountain Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare and John Milton	Hamilton Place	1875	Thornycroft, ThomasThomas Thornycroft	N/A	Fountain with sculptures	N/A	Inaugurated 9 July 1875. A multi-figure composition including figures of the Muses and statues of the three poets crowned with a personification of Fame; all but the last of these have been lost since the fountain was dismantled in 1948, having sustained bomb damage in World War II.[16]
	Afghan and Zulu War Memorial	Repository Road 51°28′57″N 0°03′16″E / 51.4824°N 0.0545°E	1881/3?	Victor Gleichen	N/A	Megalithoid with sculpture	Grade II	Moved to Larkhill Garrison, Wiltshire, at some point after October 2008.[17][18]
	Statue of Hugh Rose, 1st Baron Strathnairn	Intersection of Knightsbridge and Brompton Road	1895	Ford, Edward OnslowEdward Onslow Ford	N/A	Equestrian statue	N/A	Unveiled 19 June 1895 by the Duke of Grafton. Cast from guns taken during the Indian Mutiny, of which Strathnairn was one of the main suppressors. Taken down in 1931 during work on a new subway for Knightsbridge tube station and kept in storage until it was sold by Westminster Council in 1964, it now stands in Liphook, Hampshire.[19]
	Statue of Queen Victoria	Doulton (from 1901, Royal Doulton) pottery works, Albert Embankment	1900	Broad, JohnJohn Broad	N/A	Statue	N/A	The terracotta statue stood at this site until 1910, when it was removed for roadworks and destroyed. Other statues from the same mould went to Newbury and Gravesend.[20]
	The Sunbathers	Royal Festival Hall	1951	Peri, Peter LaszloPeter Laszlo Peri		Architectural sculpture	N/A	The maquette for this work is in the Leeds Art Gallery.[21][22]
	La Belle Sauvage Pocahontas	Red Lion Square	1956	McFall, DavidDavid McFall	N/A	Statue	N/A	A recumbent nude statue of Pocahontas. Commissioned by the publisher Cassell and based on that firm's colophon, which referred to its originally having been based near Ludgate Hill where Pocantontas had once lived.[23] (See the article Bell Savage Inn.) This was later removed to Greycoat Place, Victoria, and then to Villiers House, Strand. It is thought to have been sold at auction in 1996.[24]
	Girls Playing Netball	Barnsbury (Girls) Secondary School, Islington	1958	Tennant, TrevorTrevor Tennant	N/A	Sculptural group	N/A	Missing since 1999, when the part of the school where the sculpture was located was sold off.[22]
	Meridian	State House, High Holborn	1958–60	Hepworth, BarbaraBarbara Hepworth	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	The work was commissioned for the site. In 1990 State House was demolished and Meridian was bought for the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at the international headquarters of PepsiCo in Purchase, New York[25]
	Cock	Crown Woods School, Eltham	1959	Meadows, BernardBernard Meadows	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	Sold at auction in 2004.[22]
	The Watchers	University of Roehampton	1960	Chadwick, LynnLynn Chadwick	N/A	Sculptural group	Grade II	In 2006 one of the three figures was stolen.[22]
	Faun with Goose	Sarel House, Tower Hamlets	1960	Ehrlich, GeorgGeorg Ehrlich	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	The sculptor's first commission from the London County Council, this work went missing during redevelopment of the site in the early 2000s.[22]
	Birdman	Sedgehill School, Lewisham	1960	Frink, ElisabethElisabeth Frink	N/A	Statue	N/A	[22]
	Birds in Flight	Elm Court School, Tulse Hill	1960	Henghes, HeinzHeinz Henghes	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	The sculpture, designed to be suitable for children to handle, was stolen from the school shortly after it was unveiled.[22]
	Drinking Calf	Garratt Green School, Wandsworth	1961	Ehrlich, GeorgGeorg Ehrlich	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	[22]
	The Swans	Ashburton Estate, Wandsworth	1961	Hermes, GertrudeGertrude Hermes	N/A	Sculptural group	N/A	Stolen in the 1980s.[22]
	Mother and Child	Sydenham Hill Estate	1961	Jonzen, KarinKarin Jonzen	N/A	Statue	N/A	A commission by the London County Council, situated outside the estate's community centre, where a mother and baby clinic was held. In 1970 the work was reported stolen.[22]
	Neighbourly Encounter	Silverwood Estate, Southwark	1961	Nimptsch, UliUli Nimptsch	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	First exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the work disappeared soon after its installation on the estate.[22]
	Stag	Stag Place, now Cardinal Place, Victoria	1963	Copnall, Edward BainbridgeEdward Bainbridge Copnall	Howard, Fairbairn & Partners	Sculpture	N/A	A late addition to the complex, the sculpture was intended to recall the Stag Brewery which had stood on the site. Removed in 1997 to the Kent Millennium River Walk, Maidstone.[26]
	A Boy on a Dolphin	Roupell Court Old People's Home, Lambeth	1963	Nimptsch, UliUli Nimptsch	N/A	Bas-relief	N/A	[22]
	Relief sculpture	Northern Polytechnic Institute (now London Metropolitan University), Holloway Road, Islington	1964	Mitchell, WilliamWilliam Mitchell		Relief sculpture	N/A	Demolished in 2004. London Metropolitan University's Graduate School, designed by Daniel Libeskind, now stands on the site.[22]
	Sun terrace	Hampstead Civic Centre	1964	Mitchell, WilliamWilliam Mitchell	Spence, BasilBasil Spence	Sculpted concrete sun terrace	N/A	Demolished in 2002.[22]
	Bolted Flat	Lollard School, Southwark	1966	Hoskin, JohnJohn Hoskin		Sculpture	N/A	Dismantled in the late 1980s or early 1990s.[22]
	Two Forms (Divided Circle)	Dulwich Park	1969	Hepworth, BarbaraBarbara Hepworth	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	Stolen in December 2011.[22]
	Neon Tower	Roof of the Hayward Gallery	1972	Vaughan, PhilipPhilip Vaughan	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	The sculpture stood in situ from 1972 to 2008, when it was taken down for renovation. Although the gallery has stated that it was originally commissioned as a temporary installation, the artist has disputed this and called for the work to be reinstated permanently.[27]
	The Towers of Hackney		1970s – 2009		N/A		N/A
	Year of the Child Drinking Fountain	Hyde Park	1981	Crosby, TheoTheo Crosby	N/A	Drinking fountain with sculpture	N/A	A memorial to the Great Children’s Party held in the park in 1979,[28] removed for restoration in 2005 due to its poor condition.[29]
	Techtonic II	Opposite the entrance to Tower Three, London School of Economics	1984	Davies, Haydn LlewellynHaydn Llewellyn Davies	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	Part of Louis Odette’s 2005 bequest of sculptures to the LSE.[30] As of 2013 the sculpture is no longer at this location.
More images	The Artist as Hephaestus	34–36 High Holborn	1987	Paolozzi, EduardoEduardo Paolozzi	N/A	Statue	N/A	Commissioned by the London and Paris Property Group for the site, which was the front façade of their new offices. The plaster and polystyrene model for the statue, which is a self-portrait, is in the National Portrait Gallery.[31] Sold at auction by Bonhams in 2012.[32]
More images	One Nation Under CCTV	Newman Street, Fitzrovia	2008	Banksy	N/A	Mural	N/A	To produce this work Banksy erected and dismantled three storeys of scaffolding without being observed, despite the site being behind a tall fence and in full view of a CCTV camera.[33] Westminster City Council destroyed the work as an example to graffiti artists.[34]
	Statue of Michael Jackson	Craven Cottage, Fulham	2011	?	N/A	Statue	N/A	In 2014 the statue was moved to the National Football Museum in Manchester.[35]
	Alien	Grosvenor Gardens, Westminster	2012	David Breuer-Weil	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	In 2015 the sculpture was moved to the National Trust property of Mottisfont in Hampshire.[36]

• Prior to the installation of the present statue of Oliver Cromwell in Parliament Square there was a different statue of Cromwell in another part of the square. It looked very similar to the one by Matthew Noble currently in Wythenshawe, Manchester, but it is not clear whether this is the same statue or one is a copy of the other.

Works replaced by replicas

Image	Title / subject	Location and coordinates	Date	Artist / designer	Architect / other	Type	Designation	Notes
	Woman with Fish	Cleveland Estate, Tower Hamlets (original); Millwall Park (replica)	1959	Dobson, FrankFrank Dobson	N/A	Sculpture	N/A	[22]

• The statue of Queen Anne by Francis Bird which stood outside St. Paul's Cathedral was damaged by a lunatic in the 19th century, and as it was in any case in rather poor condition, it was removed, together with the four statues at its base, and replaced by a copy, partly the work of Richard Belt. The original was moved to a location near St Leonards in Sussex.

• The Victoria Palace Theatre had a figure on its roof of a dancer (possibly representing Anna Pavlova, by some accounts). It was taken down to protect it from the bombing during World War II, and apparently was mislaid as a result. A replica of the original was installed in 2006.

Works removed and subsequently returned

• The statue of Charles II in Soho Square was removed for many years to Grim's Dyke, the estate of W. S. Gilbert, and returned to its current position after the death of Gilbert's widow, who had willed it back to the square. It was originally accompanied by four other statues representing British rivers, and the current whereabouts of these is unknown; they have probably been destroyed or buried.

See also

• List of demolished buildings and structures in London
• Works by Banksy that have been damaged or destroyed

References

1. Gater, G. H.; Wheeler, E. P., eds. (1935), "The statue of Charles I and site of the Charing Cross", Survey of London: volume 16: St Martin-in-the-Fields I: Charing Cross (Institute of Historical Research), retrieved 10 October 2012
2. Ward-Jackson 2011, p. 112
3. Ward-Jackson 2011, p. xx
4. National Art Collections Fund (1992), Annual Report, pp. 97–8
5. White, Niamh (24 July 2012), "‘Written in Soap: A Plinth Project’ Meekyoung Shin’s newest work is unveiled", SHOWstudio, retrieved 22 September 2014
6. Gowman, Philip (21 July 2013), "Meekyoung Shin shortlisted for Korea Artist Prize 2013", London Korean Links, retrieved 14 November 2013
7. "About", Written in Soap: A Plinth Project, retrieved 22 September 2014
8. Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. xxv–xxix, 90
9. Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 6–7
10. Thornbury, Walter (1878), "Leicester Square", Old and New London: Volume 3 (Institute of Historical Research), retrieved 3 April 2012
11. Ward-Jackson 2011, p. 117
12. "Leicester Square", The Georgian Index, retrieved 21 October 2011
13. McNab, Andrew, "35 St Martin′s Street", isaacnewton.org, retrieved 21 October 2011
14. Ward-Jackson 2011, p. 115
15. Sheppard, F. H. W., ed. (1966), "Leicester Square, West Side: Leicester Estate: Nos 43–54 Leicester Square", Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho (Institute of Historical Research), retrieved 21 October 2011
16. Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. xxxii–xxxiii
17. "Royal Artillery—​​Afghan War and Wars in South Africa". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
18. "Afghan and Zulu Wars Memorial". National Recording Project. Public Monuments & Sculpture Association. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
19. Greenacombe, John, ed. (2000), "Knightsbridge Green Area: Scotch Corner and the High Road", Survey of London: volume 45: Knightsbridge (Institute of Historical Research), retrieved 24 September 2014
20. Blackwood, John (1989), London’s Immortals: The Complete Outdoor Commemorative Statues, London and Oxford: Savoy Press, p. 66
21. Maquette for Festival Hall Relief; the Sunbathers, Leeds Art Fund, retrieved 13 January 2016
22. Help Find Our Missing Art, Historic England, retrieved 13 January 2016
23. "Red Lion Square Gardens", London Gardens Online (London Parks & Gardens Trust), retrieved 27 May 2015
24. "1955/4 Pocahontas "La Belle Sauvage"", David McFall R.A. (1919–1988): Sculptor, retrieved 27 May 2015
25. "Meridian", Barbara Hepworth, retrieved 18 April 2015
26. Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 15–6
27. Coldwell, Will (18 March 2013), "Incandescent: artist Philip Vaughan’s fury after Hayward Gallery switches off his Neon Tower light sculpture", The Independent, retrieved 31 January 2016
28. Land Use Consultants (2005), Hyde Park Management Plan (PDF), The Royal Parks, p. 48, retrieved 6 July 2014
29. Moore, Matthew (15 June 2010), "St James’ Park to receive ‘stunning’ new 20ft fountain", The Telegraph, retrieved 13 July 2014
30. Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 120–2
31. Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (British, 1924–2005) The Artist as Hephaestus 264 cm. (104 in.) high, Bonhams, retrieved 18 April 2015
32. Carrier, Dan (15 November 2012), "Council's legal action threat in bid to retrieve 'public artwork' sculpture sold at auction for £140,000", Camden New Journal, retrieved 18 April 2015
33. "Banksy "One Nation Under CCTV"", Hypebeast, 15 April 2008, retrieved 12 January 2012
34. Council orders Banksy art removal, BBC News, 24 October 2008, retrieved 12 January 2013
35. Michael Jackson statue moves to National Football Museum, BBC Sport, 6 May 2014, retrieved 3 November 2014
36. "Breuer-Weil’s 'Alien' to land at Mottisfont | David Breuer Weil". www.davidbreuerweil.com. Retrieved 2016-01-31.

Bibliography

• Ward-Jackson, Philip (2011), Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster: Volume 1, Public Sculpture of Britain, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press