91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Bust

Cornhill head 3

Site: Four portrait heads (4 memorials)

EC3, Cornhill, 66-67

These 4 portrait medallions are above the ground floor windows. We have numbered them left to right (west to east); two men and two women, from their costumes, c.1500-1700. But are they portraits or generic ornamental heads? Nowhere can we find any serious discussion on these heads, let alone identifications.

inform that this 1880 building, designed by Thomas Chatfeild Clarke (note the unusual spelling), was commissioned by the London and Lancashire Life Assurance Company.

examine this Listed Grade II building closely but make no comment on the relief heads. "The current building was commissioned by the London & Lancashire Life Assurance Co. which was based here until the late 1920s.  This company operated under various guises from 1862 to 2007, having been absorbed the Commercial Union in 1968. From 1930 to 1958, this building housed the London offices of the Yorkshire Insurance Company and was known as York House.  Established in 1824 and trading for much of its history under the emblem of York Minster, it was absorbed in 1968 by General Accident assurance.  The descendants of both those insurers ultimately have flowed into the Aviva insurance conglomerate."

in June 2021, thinking that the heads looked like copies of paintings, we asked the National Portrait Gallery if they could help. They kindly replied, saying that none of the heads were familiar to them.

We have to assume that the lack of any information identifying the heads probably means they are not intended to be identifiable portraits. But let us know if you think differently.

The building's left-most bay is built over a passageway into Sun Court. Hanging above the entrance to this passage is a .  Just a graphical whim or a choice that means something?

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Cornhill head 3

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

ICI - 2 - Mendeleeff

ICI - 2 - Mendeleeff

SW1, Millbank, 9, Imperial Chemical House

For an idea of what this area used to be like see this 1894ish map. It was all redeveloped following the 1928 flood. This block was desig...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
RIPWC - Barret

RIPWC - Barret

W1, Piccadilly, 192-196

The building by E. R. Robson was erected for the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour, founded in 1831 (the crest in the centre of...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Robert Devereux bust

Robert Devereux bust

WC2, Devereux Court

This bust was brought to our attention by Discovering London, where its claim to carry the oldest inscription in London is debunked.  The...

1 subject commemorated
Hoe Street - medallion of a hatless man

Hoe Street - medallion of a hatless man

E17, Hoe Street, 105

This shop front has, like a lot of shop fronts of this period, atop the flanking pillars, decorative capitals and corbels.  On this shop ...

Greenwich roundels - Nelson

Greenwich roundels - Nelson

SE10, King William Walk, Discover Greenwich (Royal Naval College, Pepys Building)

The roundels on the north, river-facing, frontage are occupied by, left to right: Anson, Drake, Cook, Howard, Blake, Benbow, Sandwich, Ro...

1 subject commemorated