THE AMERICANS HAVE shifted their embassy away from Grosvenor Square, but the building that housed it still remains, now beautifully restored. I was pleased to see that the edifice has not lost the huge sculpture of an eagle that was on top of it. This eagle is attached to the building by means of an attachment designed by my uncle WS Rindl, a structural engineer.
Outside the former embassy, there are a couple of statues, including one depicting Ronald Reagan, who was President of the USA from 1981 to1989. It was during his presidency that in 1987 he gave a speech demanding that Russian President Gorbachev bring down the Berlin Wall. His words, spoken at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate were:
“Mr Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall”
And less than two years later, the gate was opened, and the wall came down. His words are on a memorial next to his statue on Grosvenor Square. The memorial contains a fragment of the Berlin Wall, whose demise Reagan encouraged.
On a lighter note, it is said that when you met Margaret Thatcher, you came away thinking she was the cleverest person in the world, but when you met Ronald Reagan, you left him feeling that you were the cleverest person in the world. Reagan had a way of flattering others in the best possible way.
I LIKE SEEING SCULPTURE in open air locations. For example, I have enjoyed the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the garden containing works by Henry Moore (near Much Hadham), Barbara Hepworth’s Garden in St Ives (Cornwall), and the annual Frieze sculpture shows in Regents Park. Until the end of August 2023, the Waddington Custot Gallery is exhibiting several large metal sculptures by Bernar Venet (born 1941 in France). Yesterday, the 8th of July 2023, we visited Grosvenor Square where these artworks are on display alfresco. Although they are not the most exciting sculptures I have ever seen, they looked good amongst the trees and lawns of the square.
The west side of Grosvenor Square is occupied by a large building that was until recently (2018) the Embassy of the USA. Constructed in 1960, it was designed by the Finnish architect Eero Saarinen (1910-1961). The structural engineering firm responsible for the edifice was FJ Samuely, which was founded by the Austrian-born Felix James Samuely (1902-1959), who fled to Britain in 1933 to escape the Nazi persecution. When he died, Frank Newby (1926-2001) became the firm’s senior partner. It was he who supervised the structural aspects of the realisation of Saarinen’s project in Grosvenor Square. One of Frank’s colleagues was my uncle Sven Rindl (1921-2007), who joined Samuely in 1954 and later became a director. It was my uncle who played an important role in creating the former embassy’s distinctive appearance when viewed from Grosvenor Square.
Just beneath the top of the centre of the façade of the embassy that faces Grosvenor Square, there is an enormous sculpture of an eagle. Gold coloured, this huge (35 feet wingspan) symbolic creature was created by the Polish-born sculptor Theodore Roszac (1907-1981). What few people know about this very visible open-air sculpture is that it has remained firmly attached to Saarinen’s building for well over 60 years thanks to my uncle Sven. For, it was my uncle who designed the eagle’s tethering to the building.
When we went to Grosvenor Square yesterday, the first thing I did was to see if the eagle was still in place. It was, and as I have just discovered, it is likely to remain there because the building is subject to a statutory conservation order. In contrast, the sculptures by Vernet, part of the Mayfair Sculpture Trail (www.bondstreet.co.uk/articles/art-in-mayfair-sculpture-trail-2023), will be removed by the 29th of August 2023.
PS: Did you know that the Duke of Westminster leased the land on which the Embassy stands to the Americans for one golden peppercorn per year in gratitude for what the USA did to help Britain in WW2?
yamey 