Temple Ornament

The Temple Ornament is an aedicular monument located on the north side of Chapel Row, dating from 1876, although it incorporates pieces from 1732 to 1734. It is constructed of limestone ashlar and has a square plan featuring four slender Ionic columns, with a fifth, more robust central column. These columns support an entablature that is extended with a segment on each side, forming a circle on a square, topped with a pyramidal capping that has a slightly concave profile and a large ball finial. The columns rest on a base slab with a chamfered edge, featuring concave segmental curves that create a visual interplay between square and circle in the entablature and the set back square podium. The monument stands approximately 3.5 meters high and measures 1.25 meters square. A tablet on the base notes that the "Temple Ornament" was "Re-erected in 1976 after its restoration by students of Bath Technical College." It is situated on the verge, immediately south of No. 14, Queen Square, on the site of St. Mary's Chapel, Queen Square, which was designed by John Wood the Elder, built between 1732 and 1734, and demolished around 1875 for road widening to coincide with the opening of Green Park station, formerly known as Queen Square. This monument is made from relics of Wood's Chapel, and similar columns from the chapel's portico can be found re-erected in the garden of No. 4 Cleveland Place West.