Victoria Memorial (London)
| Victoria Memorial | |
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| Location | The Mall |
| Coordinates | 51°30′06.65″N 00°08′26.34″W / 51.5018472°N 0.1406500°W |
| OS grid reference | TQ291797 |
| Area | City of Westminster |
| Height | 25 m |
| Unveiled | 16 May 1911 |
| Built | 1901 (memorial gardens) 1906–24 (monument) |
| Restored | bronzes – April 2011 |
| Sculptor | (Sir) Thomas Brock |
| Architectural style(s) | Beaux-Arts / Edwardian Baroque |
| Governing body | The Royal Parks |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name: Queen Victoria Memorial | |
| Designated | 5 February 1970 |
| Reference no. | 1273864 |
 The Victoria Monument in central London
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The Victoria Memorial is a monument to Queen Victoria, located at the end of The Mall in London, and designed and executed by the sculptor (Sir) Thomas Brock. Designed in 1901, it was unveiled on 16 May 1911, though it was not completed until 1924. It was the centrepiece of an ambitious urban planning scheme, which included the creation of the Queen’s Gardens to a design by Sir Aston Webb, and the refacing of Buckingham Palace (which stands behind the memorial) by the same architect.
Like the earlier Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, commemorating Victoria's consort, the Victoria Memorial has an elaborate scheme of iconographic sculpture. The central pylon of the memorial is of Pentelic marble, and individual statues are in Carrara marble and gilt bronze. The memorial weighs 2,300 tonnes and is 104 ft wide. In 1970 it was listed at Grade I.
King Edward VII suggested that a joint Parliamentary committee should be formed to develop plans for a Memorial to Queen Victoria following her death. The first meeting took place on 19 February 1901 at the Foreign Office, Whitehall. The first secretary of the committee was Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham. Initially these meetings were behind closed doors, and the proceedings were not revealed to the public. However the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Joseph Dimsdale, publicly announced that the committee had decided that the Memorial should be "monumental".
Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, the secretary of the committee, submitted the proposal to the King on 4 March 1901. A number of sites were suggested, and the King visited both Westminster Abbey and the park near the Palace of Westminster. Several ideas were rumoured at this time, including an open square in The Mall near to the Duke of York Column, and a memorial located in Green Park.
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