Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
twelve erected by Edward I, to mark the overnight stops on the funeral procession of
his wife, Eleanor of Castile, from Lincoln to Westminster in 1290.
Zimbabwe House
Opposite Charing Cross Station, on the corner of Agar Street, is the Edwardian-era
former British Medical Association building, now
Zimbabwe House
, housing the
Zimbabwean embassy, outside which there are now regular protests against the Mugabe
regime. Few passers-by even notice the eighteen naked figures by Jacob Epstein that
punctuate the second-floor facade, but at the time of their unveiling in 1908, they
caused enormous controversy - “a form of statuary which no careful father would wish
his daughter and no discriminating young man his fiancée to see”, railed the press.
When the Southern Rhodesian government bought the building in 1937 they
pronounced the sculptures to be a health and safety hazard to passers-by, and hacked at
the genitals, heads and limbs of all eighteen, which remain mutilated to this day.
The Savoy
Strand •
T
020 7836 4343,
W
fairmont.com/savoy-london •
!
Charing Cross or Embankment
On the south side of the Strand, the blind side street of Savoy Court - the only street
in the country where the tra
c drives on the right - leads to
The Savoy
,
one of
London's grandest hotels, built in 1889 by Richard D'Oyly Carte. César Ritz was the
original manager, Auguste Esco
er the chef, who went on to invent the
pêche Melba
at
the hotel. The hotel's
American Bar
introduced cocktails into Europe in the 1930s,
Guccio Gucci started out as a dishwasher here and the list of illustrious guests is
endless: Monet and Whistler both painted the Thames from one of the south-facing
rooms, Sarah Bernhardt nearly died here and Strauss the Younger arrived with his own
orchestra. It's worthwhile strolling up Savoy Court to check out the hotel's Art Deco
foyer, the polygonal glass fish fountain and the silver and gold statue of John of Gaunt,
whose medieval palace stood on the site (see below). The adjacent
Savoy Theatre
, with
its outrageous 1930s silver and gold fittings, was originally built in 1881 to showcase
Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas, witnessing eight premieres, including
The Mikado
- the theatre's profits helped fund the building of the hotel.
8
Savoy Chapel
Savoy Hill • Mon-Thurs 9.30am-4pm, Sun 9am-1pm • Free •
T
020 7836 7221,
W
duchyoflancaster.co.uk •
!
Charing Cross or
Embankment
Nothing remains of John of Gaunt's medieval Savoy Palace, which stood here until it
was burnt down in the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, though the
Savoy Chapel
(or he
Queen's Chapel of the Savoy to give its full title), hidden round the back of the hotel
down Savoy Street, dates from the time when the complex was rebuilt as a hospital for
the poor in 1512. The chapel is much altered, but it became a fashionable venue for
weddings when the hotel and theatre were built next door - all three were the first
public buildings in the world to be lit by electricity. And talking of lighting, don't miss
the
Patent Sewer Ventilating Lamp
, erected in the 1880s halfway down Carting Lane,
and still powered by methane collected in a U-bend in the sewers below.
Victoria Embankment
To get to the
Victoria Embankment
, from the Strand, head down Villiers Street, beside
Charing Cross Station. Completed in 1870, the embankment was the inspiration of
engineer
Joseph Bazalgette
, who used the reclaimed land for a new tube line, new
sewers, and a new stretch of riverside parkland - now filled with an eclectic mixture of
statues and memorials from Robbie Burns to the Imperial Camel Corps. The 1626
York Watergate
, in the Victoria Embankment Gardens to the east of Villiers Street,
gives you an idea of where the banks of the Thames used to be: the steps through the
gateway once led down to the river.
