Tuesday 2 February 2010

54 Harley Street W1

Sometimes quite ordinary houses sport just one lively and interesting detail that makes the whole thing come alive. At 54 Harley Street, a solemn neo-Georgian house built for one of the consultants that infest the street to this day, the keystone over the front door is carved with this lovely mermaid. She holds a trident in one hand and twirls her hair seductively with the other. Her tail curls round and round itself - it must be the longest mertail ever.
The house was designed by Niven and Wigglesworth in 1904, so the sculptor may be Albert Hodge or his assistant Charles Doman.

1 comment:

LondonRemembers said...

Looks to me like this fishy lovely has a split tail, although I still can't quite untangle the knot. I'm sure that when I was an innocent child mermaids all had one tail but it seems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid_problem) that the split tail version has been around for some time, else where do new mermaids come from?