55 Broadway, London
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
55 Broadway was designed by Charles Holden and built between 1927–29. It was built as the headquarters building for the London Underground.
Faced with Portland stone, the upper office floors of the building are on a cruciform plan, stepping back towards the central clock tower at the top. The ground floor contains a shopping arcade and many art deco details. The whole building is built on top of St. James's Park tube station.
On each elevation, the pediment above the seventh floor is decorated with a relief, collectively known as 'the four winds', although the four points of the compass are repeated twice for a total of eight reliefs. Each relief was carved by a contemporary sculptors of the day.
Above the two main entrances are a matched pair of sculptures, Day and Night by Jacob Epstein. The modernism and graphic naked of these sculptures created public outrage on their unveiling. Newspapers started a campaign to have the statues removed and one company director even offered to pay the cost.
Frank Pick the managing director of London Underground at the time took overall responsibility and offered his resignation over the scandal. In the end, Epstein agreed to remove a couple of inches from the penis of the smaller figure on Day and ultimately the furore died down.
Commissioned art work
- North Wind A.H. Gerard
- North Wind Eric Gill
- East Wind Eric Gill
- East Wind Allan Wyon
- South Wind Eric Gill
- South Wind Eric Aumonier
- West Wind Samuel Rabinovich
- West Wind Henry Moore
References
- Modern Architectural Sculpture, Ed. William Aumonier, The Architectural Press, London 1930
