This rather ornate tombstone can be found in the graveyard of the old St Pancras Church. Beneath it lie Sir John Soanes, his wife Elizabeth and his older son John (he fell out with his younger son George, blaming him for Elizabeth's death).A brick layer's son born in 1753, he changed his name from Swan to Soanes, (is that how you sound posher?) he went on to become one of Britain's famous architects - hence the "Sir John".
The Bank of England building perhaps the most famous of his designs was, sadly, mostly demolished in the 1920's. Soane's tomb, originally designed for his wife, now one of only 2 tombs in London with a grade 1 heritage listing, was the inspiration for the design of Sir Giles Robert Scott's K2 Red Telephone Kiosk.
4 comments:
Thanks for your visit to my blog this morning. I hope you enjoyed my post today.
I enjoyed reading your blog post for today and I thought the photography was good too. And I wanted you to know I was here. Kind of like "Kilroy" was here...remember those drawings everyone used to make?
Indeed, it does look like a phone booth. Maybe, without realising it, they were installing a party-line to God!
You are pressing all the right buttons for me - I also love cemeteries and want to visit Highgate in September. Apparently, there is a group of 7 within the Greater London area that are good for graveyard-tragics like me.
You find the most interesting places to photograph!
This is great!! Love the photo and the history - awesome!
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