The Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey

Edward William Mountford (1855-1908)

1900-07

Portland stone

London EC4

Related materia and other views

Photograph in sunlight

Main entrance

Cupola

Pomeroy's gilded Justice

Fortitude, Angel, and Truth

Figure with quill and closed book

Figure with sword and open book

Turner's Frieze

Photograph 2009 by Jacqueline Banerjee.

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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).

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.

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Last modified 8 July 2011