Restoring St. George’s 
Peter Campbell looks out of the window of 28 Little Russell Street
The steeple of the church of St George, Bloomsbury is an astonishing confection. A square tower rises from the ground to above roof level. It is topped by a little pedimented temple. The temple supports a stepped pyramid and the pyramid a sacrificial altar. On the altar, like a doll on a wedding cake, is a statue of George I in Roman dress. It was paid for by Mr Huck, brewer to the royal household. The lion and unicorn from the royal arms once played around the base of the pyramid: they were finally removed in a dilapidated state during G.E. Street’s renovation of 1871 – he was probably embarrassed by them in any case. Funds permitting, current restoration work will see them back in place, newly carved.
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Peter Campbell is the London Review’s resident designer and art critic.
Other articles by this contributor:
In the Park · John Nash stucco and Aussies with frisbees
At the Museum of London · Artists’ studios
At the Royal Academy · Turner’s watercolours
At Tate Britain · Turner's Rigi watercolours
At the Royal Academy · Philip Guston fouls the nest
At the National Portrait Gallery · the Portraits of Angus McBean
At Tate Britain · British Art and the French Romantics
At the British Museum · Samuel Palmer’s dream landscapes
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