List of public art in Westminster

This article is about public art in Westminster, a district within the City of Westminster in London. For public art in the larger borough, see List of public art in the City of Westminster.

Rodin's Burghers of Calais, with the Victoria Tower in the background.

This is a list of public art in Westminster, a district in the City of Westminster, London.

The area's main sculptural showcase is Parliament Square, conceived in the 1860s to improve the setting of the rebuilt Palace of Westminster, to ease traffic flow and as a site for commemorating politicians of note.[1] Statues of the engineers Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel by Carlo Marochetti were initially considered for the square, but were rejected as not fitting in with the political theme. (They were ultimately erected outside Euston station and on the Victoria Embankment.)[2] The square took on its present configuration in a refurbishment of 1949–1950 by the architect George Grey Wornum, though four statues of twentieth-century figures have since been added.[3]

Another two political memorials (one of which, the Buxton Memorial Fountain, was moved by Wornum from Parliament Square) and The Burghers of Calais, a work on a historical theme by Auguste Rodin, are to be found in Victoria Tower Gardens. As the memorials therein all touch on the theme of opposition to injustice, the gardens have been described by David Adjaye, the designer of a projected national Holocaust memorial for that location, as a "park of Britain's conscience".[4]

Map of public art in Westminster

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Artist / designer Architect / other Type Designation Notes
Bust of Emery Hill United Westminster Almshouses, Rochester Row 1675 c. 1675 Anon. R. R. Arntz (rebuilding) Bust Grade II [5]

More images 		Statue of Queen Anne Outside 13 Queen Anne's Gate 1708 at latest Francis Bird Statue Grade I [6]

More images 		Statue of George Canning Parliament Square

51°30′04″N 0°07′40″W / 51.5010°N 0.1277°W / 51.5010; -0.1277 (Statue of George Canning) 		1832 Richard Westmacott — Statue Grade II Erected 2 May 1832 in New Palace Yard; in its current location since 1949. The features are based on the portrait bust of Canning by Francis Leggatt Chantrey, who was "not at all pleased with the preference shewn to Mr. Westmacott".[7]


More images 		Richard Coeur de Lion
Richard I 		Old Palace Yard

51°29′57″N 0°07′32″W / 51.4991°N 0.1256°W / 51.4991; -0.1256 (Richard Coeur de Lion) 		1856 Carlo Marochetti — Equestrian statue Grade II Unveiled 26 October 1860. Casting of a clay model exhibited at the 1851 Great Exhibition to much acclaim; John Ruskin considered it to be "the only really interesting piece of historical sculpture we have".[8]

More images 		Westminster Scholars War Memorial Broad Sanctuary

51°29′58″N 0°07′45″W / 51.4995°N 0.1292°W / 51.4995; -0.1292 (Westminster Scholars War Memorial) 		1861 John Richard Clayton and John Birnie Philip George Gilbert Scott Column with sculpture Grade II Commemorates Lord Raglan and other ex-pupils of Westminster School who died in the Crimean War[9] and the Indian Mutiny. Sculptures represent Saint George and the Dragon, Edward the Confessor and Henry III (builders of Westminster Abbey), Elizabeth I (second founder of the school) and Queen Victoria.[10]

More images 		Buxton Memorial Fountain

Inscribed to Buxton, Wilberforce, Clarkson, Macaulay, Brougham, Lushington, et al.

Victoria Tower Gardens

51°29′46″N 0°07′29″W / 51.4961°N 0.1248°W / 51.4961; -0.1248 (Buxton Memorial Fountain) 		1865–1866 Thomas Earp (figures now lost) Samuel Sanders Teulon with Charles Buxton Drinking fountain Grade II* Erected in Parliament Square in 1865–1866. Commissioned by Charles Buxton as a memorial to his father Sir Thomas Buxton and his colleagues in the Abolitionist movement, particularly those associated with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Removed in 1949 and re-erected on this site in 1957.[11]

More images 		Statue of Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby Parliament Square

51°30′03″N 0°07′38″W / 51.5008°N 0.1273°W / 51.5008; -0.1273 (Statue of Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby) 		1874 Matthew Noble — Statue Grade II Unveiled 11 July 1874. Derby is represented wearing his robes as Chancellor of Oxford University. The bronze reliefs around the pedestal depicting scenes from his life were executed by Noble's assistant, Horace Montford.[12]

More images 		Statue of Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston Parliament Square

51°30′03″N 0°07′38″W / 51.5009°N 0.1271°W / 51.5009; -0.1271 (Statue of Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston) 		1876 Thomas Woolner — Statue Grade II Unveiled 2 February 1876. Palmerston is portrayed in middle age, before he became Prime Minister. The pedestal departs from the "Gothic" model of the nearby statues of Derby and Peel.[13]

More images 		Statue of Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet Parliament Square

51°30′02″N 0°07′38″W / 51.5005°N 0.1273°W / 51.5005; -0.1273 (Statue of Robert Peel) 		1877 (unveiled) Matthew Noble — Statue Grade II Initially a statue of Peel was commissioned from Carlo Marochetti. This was ready by 1853 but was considered to be far too large. Marochetti produced a smaller work which was placed at the entrance to New Palace Yard; this was removed in 1868 and melted down in 1874.[14]
Bust of the Rev. James Palmer United Westminster Almshouses, Rochester Row 1882 c. 1882 Anon. R. R. Arntz Bust Grade II [15]

More images 		Statue of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield Parliament Square

51°30′02″N 0°07′38″W / 51.5006°N 0.1273°W / 51.5006; -0.1273 (Statue of Benjamin Disraeli) 		1883 Mario Raggi — Statue Grade II Unveiled 19 April 1883. The statue was the "shrine" of the Primrose League, a Conservative association established in Disraeli's memory. This group had an annual tradition of leaving wreaths in front of the statue on "Primrose Day", the anniversary of the prime minister's death.[16]

More images 		The Burghers of Calais Victoria Tower Gardens

51°29′51″N 0°07′30″W / 51.4975°N 0.1249°W / 51.4975; -0.1249 (The Burghers of Calais) 		1884–1889 Auguste Rodin Eric Gill (lettering) Sculptural group Grade I Unveiled 19 July 1915. The National Art Collections Fund bought the cast in 1910. Rodin wanted the group situated "near the statue of William the Conqueror" (sic) but eventually agreed on a site in Victoria Tower Gardens.[17] The work was relocated and given its current pedestal in 2004.[18]

More images 		Statue of Oliver Cromwell New Palace Yard

51°30′00″N 0°07′33″W / 51.4999°N 0.1259°W / 51.4999; -0.1259 (Statue of Oliver Cromwell) 		1899 William Hamo Thornycroft — Statue Grade II Unveiled 18 November 1899.[19] The decision to erect a statue to Cromwell was controversial; the Irish Nationalist Party forced the withdrawal of public funds to pay for the statue. Instead an anonymous donor, rumoured to be Lord Rosebery, paid for the work.[20]
Bust of Charles I St Margaret's Church 20th century? Anon. (after Anthony van Dyck) W. A. Forsyth (niche) Bust Grade I [21]
War memorial Churchyard of St John's, Smith Square, facing Dean Stanley Street

51°29′46″N 0°07′36″W / 51.4960°N 0.1268°W / 51.4960; -0.1268 (St John's, Smith Square War Memorial) 		after 1918 ? — Cross — Commemorates the 120 parishioners of the church who died in World War I.[22]


More images 		Statue of Abraham Lincoln Parliament Square

51°30′02″N 0°07′40″W / 51.5006°N 0.1278°W / 51.5006; -0.1278 (Statue of Abraham Lincoln) 		1920 (unveiled) Augustus Saint-Gaudens McKim, Mead & White Statue Grade II Unveiled July 1920. A replica of the statue of Lincoln in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Initially the statue was to be erected in 1914, but this was postponed until 1917. By that time some favoured an alternative statue by George Grey Barnard; this was eventually erected in Manchester.[23]
Drinking fountain with two groups of a nanny goat and kid Victoria Tower Gardens

51°29′42″N 0°07′29″W / 51.4951°N 0.1248°W / 51.4951; -0.1248 (Drinking fountain with two groups of a nanny goat and kid) 		1923 Miss Harris assisted by Charles Sargeant Jagger — Drinking fountain with sculptural groups — Given by Henry Gage Spicer, the director of a paper firm, for the poor children of the area who used the Gardens as a playground. The extent of "Miss Harris's" involvement in the art deco sculptures is questionable.[24]

More images 		Memorial to Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Victoria Tower Gardens

51°29′52″N 0°07′31″W / 51.4979°N 0.1253°W / 51.4979; -0.1253 (Memorial to Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst) 		1930 Arthur George Walker Herbert Baker (1930); Peter Hills (1959) Statue with side screens and piers Grade II* The statue of Emmeline Pankhurst was unveiled on 6 March 1930 by Stanley Baldwin and moved to its present site in 1956. The stone screens were added in 1959 as a memorial to her daughter. Two bronze plaques show, on the right, a portrait medallion of Christabel Pankhurst and, on the left, the design on the WSPU prisoners' badge.[25]
Prophet of Assembly of the Church of England Church House, Dean's Yard c. 1936–1940 Charles Wheeler Herbert Baker and A. T. Scott Architectural sculpture Grade II [26]

More images 		Statue of George V Old Palace Yard

51°29′56″N 0°07′35″W / 51.4990°N 0.1263°W / 51.4990; -0.1263 (Statue of George V) 		1947 (unveiled) William Reid Dick Giles Gilbert Scott Statue Grade II Unveiled 22 October 1947 by George VI. Completion of the statue was delayed by the outbreak of the Second World War; the statue was stored at the quarry in Portland for the duration of the conflict.[27]

More images 		Statue of Jan Smuts Parliament Square

51°30′03″N 0°07′37″W / 51.5009°N 0.1269°W / 51.5009; -0.1269 (Statue of Jan Smuts) 		1956 Jacob Epstein possibly Charles Holden Statue Grade II Unveiled 7 November 1956. Winston Churchill, on his return to power in 1951, wished to erect a statue to Smuts; he was, however, unable to perform the unveiling due to illness. The pedestal is of granite from South Africa.[24]

More images 		Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65 Abingdon Street Gardens (College Green)

51°29′53″N 0°07′34″W / 51.4980°N 0.1260°W / 51.4980; -0.1260 (Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65) 		1962–1965 Henry Moore — Sculpture Grade II* Unveiled 1 November 1967. A gift by Henry Moore and the Contemporary Art Society.[28] Over the years the work's condition deteriorated because its legal owner was unknown.[29] The House of Commons accepted ownership of the sculpture in 2011; it is now part of the Parliamentary Art Collection.[30]
Christ of the Sacred Heart Chapel of the Sacred Heart, Horseferry Road 1964 Arthur Fleischmann Harry G. Clacy Architectural sculpture — [31]
Man and Woman Albany House, Petty France 1964 Willi Soukop D. E. Harrington Architectural sculpture — [32]

More images 		Statue of Winston Churchill Parliament Square

51°30′03″N 0°07′35″W / 51.5008°N 0.1265°W / 51.5008; -0.1265 (Statue of Winston Churchill) 		1973 Ivor Roberts-Jones — Statue Grade II Unveiled 1 November 1973 by Clementine, Lady Spencer-Churchill. Churchill indicated his desire for a statue of himself in this spot during Wornum's reconfiguration of Parliament Square. An early version of the statue was felt to bear too close a resemblance to Benito Mussolini and had to be modified.[33]
Crucifixion College Garden, Westminster Abbey 1974 Enzo Plazzotta — Sculptural group — A group depicting the crucified Christ with the Good and Bad Thieves, donated to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey in 1993.[34]

More images 		Jubilee Fountain

Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II

New Palace Yard

51°30′02″N 0°07′31″W / 51.5005°N 0.1252°W / 51.5005; -0.1252 (Jubilee Fountain) 		1977 Walenty Pytel — Fountain with sculpture — Unveiled 4 May 1977 by Elizabeth II. The two tiers of animals represent the continents: on the lower tier are a lion for Africa, a unicorn for Europe and a tiger for Asia, on the upper an eagle for the Americas, a kangaroo for Australia and a penguin for Antarctica.[35]
Planned Growth Rowan House, Greycoat Street 1986–1987 Peter Thursby Renton Howard Wood Levine Relief — Awarded the Royal Society of British Sculptors' silver medal in 1987.[36]
Memorial to Innocent Victims of Oppression, Violence and War Broad Sanctuary

51°29′59″N 0°07′43″W / 51.4996°N 0.1286°W / 51.4996; -0.1286 (Memorial to Innocent Victims of Oppression, Violence and War) 		1996 ? — Plaque in pavement — Unveiled 10 October 1996 by Elizabeth II.[37]
Fountain St John's Gardens 2001 ? ? Fountain — A replacement for a 19th-century fountain which had become derelict. Installed as part of the redevelopment of the Westminster Hospital site.[38]
Golden Jubilee Sundial

Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II

Old Palace Yard

51°29′56″N 0°07′34″W / 51.4990°N 0.1261°W / 51.4990; -0.1261 (Golden Jubilee Sundial) 		2002 Quentin Newark (of Atelier Works) Incisive Lettering (lettering) Analemmatic sundial in pavement — Parliament's gift to the Queen on her Golden Jubilee.[39] The inscription around the rim is from Henry VI, Part 3: To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, thereby to see the minutes how they run: how many makes the hour full complete, how many hours brings about the day, how many days will finish up the year, how many years a mortal man may live.[40]
Screens St John's Gardens 2005 Wendy Ramshaw — Metalwork grilles — 12 grilles set into the existing red brick wall between the gardens and the former Westminster Hospital, commissioned as a Section 106 requirement for the development of the hospital site into upmarket residential accommodation.[38][41]

More images 		Statue of Nelson Mandela Parliament Square

51°30′03″N 0°07′35″W / 51.5008°N 0.1265°W / 51.5008; -0.1265 (Statue of Nelson Mandela) 		2007 Ian Walters — Statue — Unveiled 29 August 2007. Westminster City Council had earlier refused permission for placing the statue in Trafalgar Square adjacent to South Africa House.[42] On a visit to London in 1961, Mandela had joked that one day his statue would replace that of Jan Smuts; they now both have statues in Parliament Square.[43]

More images 		Statue of David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor Parliament Square

51°30′03″N 0°07′36″W / 51.5008°N 0.1267°W / 51.5008; -0.1267 (Statue of David Lloyd George) 		2007 (unveiled) Glynn Williams — Statue — Unveiled 25 October 2007 by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. The bronze figure stands on a plinth of slate from Penrhyn Quarry, North Wales.[44]

More images 		Lines for the Supreme Court Outside the Supreme Court at Middlesex Guildhall 2009 ? — Inscription on curved wall — The complete text of a poem by the Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, which he also read out at the Supreme Court's opening ceremony.[45]
Statue of Elizabeth I Little Dean's Yard 2010 Matthew Spender — Statue — Unveiled 21 May 2010. Commemorates the 450th anniversary of the founding of Westminster School by Elizabeth I. The sculptor (the son of the poet Stephen Spender) is an old boy of the school.[46]
Memorial to William Vincent Vincent Square 2010 Karen Newman — Plaque with relief sculpture — Commissioned by the Vincent Square Residents Association to mark the bicentenary of the square's creation as playing fields for Westminster School, of which Dean Vincent was headmaster. Based on a portrait by William Owen and inscribed ELOQUERE PUER ELOQUERE ("speak out, boy, speak out"), an oft-heard utterance of the Dean's.[47]
Fruit sculptures Abbey Orchard Estate courtyard

51°29′52″N 0°07′52″W / 51.4978°N 0.1311°W / 51.4978; -0.1311 (Fruit sculptures) 		2012 Sarah Staton — Sculptures — Gigantic sculptures of English fruit, made to appear as if they have fallen from the plane trees nearby.[48] The scheme won the UK Landscape Award for Artworks in 2012.[49]

More images 		Statue of Mahatma Gandhi Parliament Square

51°30′02″N 0°07′38″W / 51.5006°N 0.1272°W / 51.5006; -0.1272 (Statue of Mahatma Gandhi) 		2015 Philip Jackson — Statue — Unveiled 14 March 2015, on the centenary of Gandhi's return to India from South Africa. The statue is based on a photograph of Gandhi at 10 Downing Street, from a 1931 visit to London in which he met Ramsay MacDonald.[50]

More images 		Statue of Millicent Fawcett Parliament Square 2018 Gillian Wearing — Statue — Unveiled 24 April 2018. Commissioned as part of commemorations of the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918.[51]
Pan African Flag for the Relic Travellers' Alliance (Union) Westminster tube station 2022 Larry Achiampong Installation — The London Underground roundel in the pan-African colours, with 54 stars representing the countries of Africa.[52]


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