London Public Art - Archive Articles

Find the Dorothy Annan murals in the Barbican

It looks like it's been there since the Barbican was built, but this long row of 1960s ceramic art only arrived at the Barbican in 2013.

London Public Art: Athena

This tall grey lady just outside London City Airport is Athena, and she's also the tallest bronze sculpture in the UK.s

Giant letters of Love, Hope & Joy for Covent Garden

A four-storey work of art has gone up in Covent Garden, with the words of Love, Hope & Joy emblazoned across a building overlooking the Piazza.

Shepherd and Sheep in Paternoster Square

In Paternoster Square is a sculpture of a shepherd and sheep, also called Paternoster - the sculpture that is, not the sheep. They are unnamed.

A cluster of brick buses outside Leytonestone Station

Just outside Leytonstone tube station, by the bus stop, is a most appropriate work of public art - a cluster of buses, made from bricks.

London Public Art: Queen Anne in Queen Anne’s Gate

A posh street in Westminster has a statue of Queen Anne resting against the side wall of one of the posh houses.

Sharks in the Regents Canal at Haggerston

There may be sharks in the Regents Canal near Haggerston -- later this year, and it's art.

London Public Art: The Broad Family

On the edges of the Broadgate office estate can be found four large slabs of basalt stone, looking not entirely unlike a family.

Public art for Latimer Road tube station

A call has been issued for a public work of art to be displayed at Latimer Road tube station.

London Public Art: Sir Thomas More

This bronze statue is by Leslie Cubitt Bevis (1892-1984) and was cast at the Morris Singer foundry. It's also quite unusual for modern times, as the face and hands have been gilded.

Admire Rochester Row’s 1960s concrete frieze

If you wander down a road off Victoria, you might spot a rather fine concrete frieze running along a 1960s building.

The Swan mural on Max Bygrave’s old home

There is a mosaic mural of a swan in Rotherhithe that has an indirect link with the late entertainer, Max Bygraves.

A memorial to the legend of Vincent Square

Two hundred years ago a huge plot of land was secured as an open park, by means of simply ploughing a deep ditch all around it.

London Public Art: The Pimlico Priapus

In genteel Pimlico can be found a statue of the Greek god, Priapus, protector of gardens, fruit plants, livestock... and male genitals.

London Public Art: Taxi

A weatherworn, and better for it bronze is frozen in time trying to hail a taxi cab next to London's Embankment.

A stained glass phone box has appeared on Embankment

On the Embankment near Blackfriars is a normal looking phone box with a most delightful stained glass addition.

The Regents Canal totem poles at Kingsland Road

If you go past a bridge over the Regents Canal on the Kingsland Road you might have noticed a series of odd-looking totem poles.

A memorial to the Kindertransport at Liverpool Street

Next to the tube station entrance inside Liverpool Street station can be found a bronze statue of two refugees from the Nazi pogroms.

See the memorial bust to Sir Simon Milton

This is the Tiger of Sweden. Well, actually, the shop is called that, the man with the wing above is a former politician who used to live above the shop.

The Pilgrim’s Progress remembered in Holborn

A hotel in Holborn also contains a most unexpected statue -- of John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress.

Find Gilpin’s Bell – Edmonton

Not far from a famous football stadium is the Gilpin's Bell, a large pub that is packed on match days. And further up the road is a less famous stone bell.

London’s Public Art: Steel statues in Woolwich

Next to the Thames in Woolwich are a cluster of steel men forever frozen in a meeting that is about to take place.

Controversy over restoration of Waterloo Station poem

In 1999, an artist was commissioned to help improve a subway leading from Waterloo Station. In 2019 the same artist protested about the efforts to restore the art.

London’s Public Art: Weaving Identities

A tall metal sculpture stands in a public park, holding up a couple of CCTVs that keep an eye on the area.