Photographs 2009 by the author. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. ]
The Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in different light conditions. Edward William Mountford (1855-1908). 1900-07. Portland stone. [Click on images to enlarge them.] This is Mountford's most celebrated work, Edwardian Baroque rather than Victorian in character, and with a cupola reminiscent of St Paul's. Mountford's style has been compared to T. E. Collcutt's and Aston Webb's as "turgid Renaissance" (Turner 111; cf. Collcutt's Palace Theatre, and Webb's Victoria and Albert Museum). Mountford wished to produce a "thoroughly English" design (Ward-Jackson 62) and therefore chose F. W. Pomeroy and Alfred Turner, two sculptors who had both been students at the City and Guilds South London Technical School, for the architectural sculpture. Pomeroy's bronze gilt Justice on the cupola is a familiar landmark. Over the entrance are the City of London Arms, and above that is a group of figures by Pomeroy: Fortitude to the left holds a sword, the hooded recording angel in the middle is writing on a scroll, and Truth on the right looks in a mirror. The allegorical frieze above the windows is by Turner (see Ward-Jackson 62).
Left: Main entrance. Right: Cupola. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Related material and other views
- Pomeroy's gilded Justice
- Fortitude, Angel, and Truth
- Figure with quill and closed book
- Figure with sword and open book
- Turner's Frieze
- The Old Bailey — Victorian commentary (1871)
- The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 outside The Victorian Web
References
Turnor, Reginald. Nineteenth Century Architecture in Britain. London: Batsford, 1950.
Ward-Jackson, Philip. Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Last modified 7 June 2015