Page 124 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

122  L ONDON AREA B Y AREA

t St Mary-le-Strand to Britain by the then Viceroy
of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, in
Strand WC2. Map 14 D2. Tel 020 7836
3126. 1 Temple. Open 10am–4pm 1819 and erected in 1878,
Tue–Thu, 10am–1pm Sun. 5 shortly after the Embankment
12:30pm Mon, Tue & Thu, 11am Sun. was built. It has a twin in New
= ∑ stmarylestrand.org York’s Central Park, behind the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Now beached on a road island The bronze sphinxes, added
at the east end of the Strand, in 1882, are not Egyptian.
this pleasing church was In its base is a Victorian
consecrated in 1724. It was the time capsule of artifacts of
first public building by James the day, such as the day’s
Gibbs, who designed St-Martin- newspapers, a rail timetable
in-the-Fields (see p106). Gibbs and photographs of 12
was influenced by Christopher The north entrance of Bush House contemporary beauties.
Wren, but the exuberant
external decorative detail here in the immediate area. It is more
was inspired by the Baroque likely to have been part of o Victoria
churches of Rome, where Gibbs Arundel House, one of several Embankment
studied. Its multi-arched tower palaces which stood on the Gardens
is layered like a wedding cake, Strand from Tudor times until the
and culminates in a cupola and 17th century, when they were WC2. Map 13 C3. 1 Embankment,
lantern. St-Mary-le-Strand is demolished for new building. Charing Cross. Open 7:30am–dusk
now the official church of the In the 19th century the bath Mon–Sat, 9am–dusk Sun & public
Women’s Royal Naval Service. was open to the public for cold hols. 7 -
plunges, believed to be healthy.
This narrow sliver of a public
park, created when the
u Bush House Embankment was built, boasts
well-maintained flowerbeds,
Aldwych WC2. Map 14 D2. 1 Temple,
Holborn. Closed to the public. a clutch of statues of British
worthies (including the Scottish
Situated at the centre of the poet Robert Burns) and, in
Aldwych crescent, this Neo- summer, a season of concerts.
Classical building was first Its main historical feature is the
designed as manufacturers’ water gate at its northwest
showrooms by an American, corner, which was built as a
Irving T Bush, and completed triumphal entry to the Thames
in 1935. It appears especially for the Duke of Buckingham in
imposing when viewed from 1626. It is a relic of York House,
Kingsway, its dramatic north which used to stand on this site
entrance graced with various and was the home first of the
statues symbolizing Anglo- Archbishops of York and then of
American relations. From the Duke. It is still in its original
1940 it was used as radio position and although the water
studios, and it served as the used to lap against it, because
head quarters of the BBC World of the Thames Embankment
St Mary-le-Strand Service until 2012. To many the gate is now a good 100 m
Londoners it still symbolizes (330 ft) from the river’s edge.
the BBC.
y Roman Bath
5 Strand Lane WC2. Map 14 D2. i Cleopatra’s
Tel 020 7641 5264. 1 Temple, Needle
Embankment, Charing Cross.
Open by appt only (1 week’s notice Embankment WC2. Map 13 C3.
required). 7 via Temple Pl. 1 Embankment, Charing Cross.
This small bath may be seen Erected in Heliopolis in about
from a full-length window on 1500 BC, this incongruous
Surrey Street, by pressing a pink granite monument is
light switch on the outside much older than London itself.
wall. It is almost certainly not Its inscriptions celebrate the
Roman, for there is no other deeds of the pharaohs of
evidence of Roman habitation ancient Egypt. It was presented Victoria Embankment Gardens

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