Z - Zimbabwe House
For the startled Edwardian public the full-frontal nudity, not to mention the wrinkled flesh of a grand maternal woman holding a baby, proved too much. A campaign against the statues began, with protests from a group called the National Vigilance Society and a raging debate in the press. The Evening Standard declared that ‘no careful father’ would let his daughter see such depravity,
The statues remain today in a mutilated state following the removal in the 1930s of projecting features after pieces, some say of a phallus, fell off on to a gentleman passerby.
What a way to end A-Z this year.
 |
| Zimbabwe House, London |
This Grade II Listed Building on the Strand is now occupied by the Zimbabwean Embassy.
It was designed by Charles Hoden in 1907-1908 as the Headquarters of the British Medical Association. It featured naked statues by Joseph Epstein.
For the startled Edwardian public the full-frontal nudity, not to mention the wrinkled flesh of a grand maternal woman holding a baby, proved too much. A campaign against the statues began, with protests from a group called the National Vigilance Society and a raging debate in the press. The Evening Standard declared that ‘no careful father’ would let his daughter see such depravity,
The statues remain today in a mutilated state following the removal in the 1930s of projecting features after pieces, some say of a phallus, fell off on to a gentleman passerby.
What a way to end A-Z this year.
