Saturday 16 May 2009

Halifax, Strand WC2

The Prudential was famous for projecting an image of probity and stability with statues of Prudentia erected on its branches round the country, but until I passed the Halifax building in the Strand I hadn't realised that they too had a 'house style' in sculpture.
The Halifax adopted the arms of their home town, which is a slightly gruesome image of the blood-dripping head of John the Baptist on a plate, with the chequerboard of the Norman overlord Earl Warenne in the background and the Lamb and Flag above. The inscription Halez-Fax perpetuates a bogus 19th century derivation of the town's name from the early English for 'Holy Face' (actually, the name probably comes from the Old English for 'area of coarse grass in a nook of land').
The Society added a pair of classically dressed supporters (or, in the case of the woman, classically partially-dressed).
The Strand building was designed in 1932 by Colonel George Val Myer & F.J. Watson-Hart, a firm of commercial architects whose big commission was Broadcasting House.
The Lamb and Flag is so badly worn it looks more like an elephant - compare the arms on the Kingston upon Thames branch.

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