DSCF5259 Dorothy Annan Mural, Fleet Building, City of London
Dorothy Annan (19 January 1908 - 28 June 1983)
In November 2011, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) granted Grade 11 listed status to Annans murals on the front of the Fleet Building, 70 Farringdon Street, formally the largest telephone exchange in London. English Heritage advised the DCMS that the nine ceramic tile murals, which depict pylons, cables, telephone poles and generators, were of 'historic interest' to the telecoms industry and had 'relative rarity as surviving works of 1960s mural art'. The listing was supported by the Twentieth Century Society, and the Tiles and Architectural Ceramic Society, artist Frank Auerbach and Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain.
The murals were commissioned at a cost of £300 per panel in 1960. Annan visited the Hathernware pottery in Loughborough and hand-scored her design onto each wet clay tile, her brush marks can also be seen in the fired panels.
The building is owned by Goldman Sachs, who wish to redevelop the site and oppose the listing of the murals.
Update:
Since this photograph was taken, all the Dorothy Annan murals have been carefully removed from the building by the Museum of London.
Thankfully, the City Corporation, English Heritage and the 20th Century Society were able to find an alternative location for the panels – the Barbican highwalks. You can find Dorothy Annan’s murals between Speed House and the Barbican Centre on the highwalk.
DSCF5259 Dorothy Annan Mural, Fleet Building, City of London
Dorothy Annan (19 January 1908 - 28 June 1983)
In November 2011, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) granted Grade 11 listed status to Annans murals on the front of the Fleet Building, 70 Farringdon Street, formally the largest telephone exchange in London. English Heritage advised the DCMS that the nine ceramic tile murals, which depict pylons, cables, telephone poles and generators, were of 'historic interest' to the telecoms industry and had 'relative rarity as surviving works of 1960s mural art'. The listing was supported by the Twentieth Century Society, and the Tiles and Architectural Ceramic Society, artist Frank Auerbach and Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain.
The murals were commissioned at a cost of £300 per panel in 1960. Annan visited the Hathernware pottery in Loughborough and hand-scored her design onto each wet clay tile, her brush marks can also be seen in the fired panels.
The building is owned by Goldman Sachs, who wish to redevelop the site and oppose the listing of the murals.
Update:
Since this photograph was taken, all the Dorothy Annan murals have been carefully removed from the building by the Museum of London.
Thankfully, the City Corporation, English Heritage and the 20th Century Society were able to find an alternative location for the panels – the Barbican highwalks. You can find Dorothy Annan’s murals between Speed House and the Barbican Centre on the highwalk.