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 | Art Treasure of London: This Coade stone lion on Westminster Bridge, put there at the request of George VI, guarded a brewery in Lambeth from 1837 until the Second World War. Heraldic lions appeared on the Second Great Seal of Richard I c.] 195 and have been on England's arms ever since. click to open  |  | Art Treasure of London: Doorways in Bedford Square are decorated with Coade stone, an artificial stone, impervious to weather. The Lambeth factory i . issued catalogues for builders to select 'Rustic Frontispieces'. Recent experiments suggest the lost formula could be reproduced. click to open |  | Art Treasure of London: The clock over the entrance to Fortnum and Mason has two guardhouses. When the clock strikes, the doors open and the founders of the famous Piccadilly store can be seen-William Fortnum, a footman to Queen Anne and his landlord, who had a stall in St James's market. Red, deep-pile carpet, crystal chandeliers, assistants in morning coats and the mouthwatering aroma of delicacies convey the atmosphere of opulence that has given Fortnum and Mason its reputation for being the most luxurious store in London. The figures on the elaborate clock bow to each other on the hour. Although it has the appearance of being old, the clock was only installed in 1964. click to open |  | Art Treasure of London: This bust of a Creek man sits on an elaborate scroll above the Piccadilly entrance to Burlington Arcade, put there with a female companion when the arcade was given a new entrance in 1931. The arms of Lord Burlington are high over the arch. Richard, the third Earl of Burlington, built the great Palladian house (today, home of the Royal Academy of Arts and other learned societies) which adjoins the arcade. click to open |  | Art Treasure of London: Ivory, a valuable import from the East, was landed and stored in the Ivory House (far right) at St Katharine's Dock in the last century. A pair of trumpeting elephants with ivory tusks stand sentinel on the East Smithfield entrance to the former dock. Elephants have always intrigued Londoners. When King Louis IX of France sent one to Henry III, crowds flocked to see it in a specially built house at the Tower of London. Unfortunately, the elephant died within two years. click to open |  | Art Treasure of London: John Stow, a tailor and self- taught historian, was born near St Michael's, Cornhill, on 5 April 1525. A life-long collector of books and friend of leading antiquarians, he spent the early years of his retirement recording his 'native soil'. He visited all the churches, examined the archives of City livery companies, questioned people and recalled stories told to him in childhood by men who remembered Richard III. He died a poor man and was buried at the Church of St Andrew Undershaft where his widow had this marble and alabaster bust erected. Every year on a date near his birthday, a distinguished London authority gives a short address in the presence of the Lord Mayor and City dignitaries, and a new quill is placed in Stow's hand. click to open |  | Art Treasure of London: Amorini perched on the London Coliseum hold festoons above cartouches on the tower. Frank Matcham, the architect who designed the theatre, decorated the interior with mosaics, polished alabaster and elaborate, colourful plaster work. Shields and torch-like light fittings were intended to evoke the spirit of the Roman Colosseum, considered in ancient days the greatest place of entertainment in existence. click to open |  | Art Treasure of London: Francis Russell, the fifth Duke of Bedford (1765-1805), was responsible for the development of Russell Square, where this 1809 statue by Richard Westmacott stands. A pleasure- loving, extravagant companion of the Prince of Wales and Charles James Fox, the young Duke also had a progressive attitude towards farming. He tested new methods of growing crops and raising livestock and was a member of the first Board of Agriculture. click to open |  | Art Treasure of London: Two sarcophagi stand in the garden at St Mary-at-Lambeth. One is the tomb of the Tradescants whose home, known as Tradescant's Ark, was nearby in south Lambeth; here they had a physic garden said to contain the most extensive plant collection in the country. This detail on the tomb shows a skull and Hydra, the seven-headed serpent of Creek mythology. The second grave is Captain Bligh's. He was on an expedition to bring back the bread fruit plant from the South Seas when the mutiny took place on the Bounty in 1789. The redundant church, which was falling into disrepair, was rescued and, because of its assocations with the Tradescants and Bligh, the decision was made to turn it into the Museum of Garden History. click to open |  | Art Treasure of London: A pillar emblazoned with the colourful insignia of the London Chatham and Dover Railway and massive cast-iron supports, looking curiously Egyptian in the Thames by Blackfriars Bridge, are the only memories of the attractive wrought- iron, lattice girder bridge that once brought passengers to Blackfriars Station from Europe and the suburbs. One of two railway crossings at this point, it was designed in the 1860s by Joseph Cubitt to complement his BlacAfriars (road) Bridge. The Holborn Viaduct Company's less pleasing bridge has survived. Pilasters carved with the exotic and suburban destinations advertised by the LCDR-Florence, Leipsic [sic] and St Petersburg or Beckenham, Bromley and Ramsgate-were removed from outside the station in 1977. Today, stones of false promise, they are set into a wall by platform two. click to open |
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