
Work has started on a huge 73 foot long Victorian frieze in Battishill Gardens, Islington.
Carved in 1842 by little-known sculptor Musgrave Watson (who also carved one of the base reliefs of Nelson’s Column), the Commerce Welcoming All Nations frieze was originally across the front of a grand Hall of Commerce on Threadneedle Street in the City. Inside the building were two huge halls, with Corinthian columns and pilasters and elegantly coved ceilings, plus a reading-room, a room where commission agents could exhibit their samples, a place for wool sales, an auction for railway shares and rooms for meetings of creditors and private arbitrations.
The frieze, carved in Portland Stone, shows a winged Commerce with arms outstretched as she welcomes allegorical figures of the arts, Enterprise and Genius.
The Hall of Commerce was demolished in 1922 but the frieze was rescued. After spending fifty years in a basement of UCL, it was re-erected in the newly-created Battishill Gardens and unveiled by Sir John Betjeman in 1975.
In recent years undergrowth had begun growing into the stonework and new cracks were appearing. HOLT has been working with Islington Council to cut back the undergrowth, repair the stone and replace cement pointing with lime mortar. Our Proud Places team have been working with young people from alternative provision schools and youth groups to meet the conservators, learn about its history and have a go at stone carving for themselves.
The gardens will be landscaped and the project completed in spring 2025.
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