William Shakespeare Statue and Fountain with Busts of Hogarth, Hunter,Newton and Reynolds in Garden of Square is a Grade II listed building in the Westminster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 February 1958. Sculptural fountain. 2 related planning applications.
William Shakespeare Statue and Fountain with Busts of Hogarth, Hunter,Newton and Reynolds in Garden of Square
- WRENN ID
- nether-ledge-martin
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Westminster
- Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 February 1958
- Type
- Sculptural fountain
- Address
- William Shakespeare Statue and Fountain with Busts of Hogarth, Hunter,Newton and Reynolds in Garden of Square, Leicester Square W1, City of Westminster
- OS grid reference
- TQ 298 807
- Coordinates
- 51.51038, -0.13011
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The William Shakespeare statue and fountain, along with busts of Hogarth, Hunter, Newton, and Reynolds, is located in the garden of Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. This memorial sculptural fountain was designed in 1874 by James Knowles, with the fountain sculpture created by G. Fontana.
The statue of William Shakespeare, made of white marble, depicts the Bard standing on a tall square pedestal supported by dolphins at the corners. This pedestal rises from a stepped circular plinth that sits within an inner basin. Surrounding this is an outer basin that serves as a flower bed, compartmented by volute scrolls, with an outer rim featuring pedestalled vases. The marble busts, set on granite plinths, are part of the same 1874 design: Hogarth was sculpted by J. Denham, John Hunter by T. Woolner, Isaac Newton by Calder Marshall, and Reynolds by H. Weekes.
Local climate
William Shakespeare Statue and Fountain with Busts of Hogarth, Hunter,Newton and Reynolds in Garden of Square sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Shakespeare Monument on east side of the Great Gardens of New Place
- 2 The Gower Monument
- 3 The Shakespeare Memorial Fountain (also referred to as The American Fountain)
- 4 Shakespeare Monument in the Great Dell of the Botanical Gardens
- 5 Statue in Garden of William Shakespeare at West Ham Precinct of the University of East London
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