2-703-182 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Trafalgar Square, Westminster, London, c1955-c1980. A view of Trafalgar Square, named such in 1830, filled with visitors and vendors, and showing the National Gallery in the background and the equestrian statue of King George IV and the statue of General Sir Henry Havelock. The square is bordered by the National Gallery at the north, St Martin in the Fields Church in the north-east corner, and the South Africa House, designed by Sir Herbert Baker and dated 1935, in the east. The bronze statue of General Sir Henry Havelock stands in the south-east of the square, which was erected in 1861, and sculpted by W Behnes. Further north is the equestrian statue of King George IV, by Sir Francis Chantrey and T Earle, dating between 1829 and 1843. In the background is the National Gallery, built 1832-1838 by William Wilkins to accommodate the Royal Academy and Angerstein Collection purchased by King George IV. The gallery is built in the Greco-Roman style, with a large central portico, raised on a platform with flanking steps, and with smaller porticos on the wings, used to break up the long facade of the south elevation. To the right of the gallery is the portico and tower of St Martin in the Fields Church. There are visitors to the area throughout the image, obscuring the view of one of the paired fountains, with a street vendor in the foreground.