28-30 Cornhill EC3

The Scottish Widows Fund building in the City was built in 1934 to the designs of W. Curtis Green.
It features two statues of Scottish Widows by William McMillan, a Scottish sculptor who had the unusual distinction of designing some of the medals that he himself won for his service in the First World War.
One of the Widows is the classic figure familiar from a gazillion TV ads, wearing a hood and holding a puir wee  fatherless bairn. The other holds a cornucopia from which pours the largesse from a claim on a policy held with one of Britain's famously generous life assurance companies.
In the pediment at the top, Bellerophon grabs Pegasus's forelock, a reference to the company motto 'Est Capilatta Fronte Post Est Occasio Calva' or 'Take Time by the Forelock'. McMillan made a version of this in bronze over the front door.

54-55 Cornhill, EC3

Far above Cornhill, the highest point in the City, these devilish creatures stare down on the bankers, stockbrokers and insurance men as if waiting to drop down and tear them limb from limb. They were designed by W.J. Neatby, the incredibly versatile Victorian architect who did virtually everything from miniature paintings, stained glass, furniture and ceramics. From 1889 to 1900 he was head of architectural sculpture at Doultons in Lambeth, and it was while at the firm he created these phantasms.
The building was designed by Ernest Runze in 1893, cladding it entirely in Doulton's terracotta.
It is interesting to compare the figures. The one on the gable at the top is almost human, squatting on the gable and looking intently down. It has claws, horns and a beard - but also breasts.
The other one has short, hyena-like legs and a tail whipping round its foreleg. It also has breasts, but not the battery of teats you would expect of a dog but just two, as a woman would.
Neatby was also responsible for the very alarming foxes on the Fox and Anchor in Smithfield, where he went totally Art Nouveau.
I find it slightly disturbing that his most prominent work is the Meat Hall at Harrods, but perhaps I am reading far too much into all this.