Temple Bar, Fleet Street (1878)
Temple Bar was a gateway to the City of London, marking its western edge on Fleet Street. Wren's construction was taken down in 1878, shortly after the photograph was taken.
Writing in 1880, Alfred Marks commented: 'The photograph shows the west side of Temple Bar... shored up with timber to counteract the effects of the excavations for the New Law Courts...The Bar as we saw it till it was replaced by the 'Memorial' and its famous 'Griffin,' was built from Wren's designs in 1670...The statues on the west side, shown in our photograph, were of Charles I and Charles II in Roman habits.'
The northern (left) side of Fleet Street was radically changed after the removal of the Bar, with the building of the new Law Courts.
After its 1878 dismantling, Temple Bar was bought by brewing magnate Sir Henry Meux and reconstructed in Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire. In 2003 it was moved piece by piece to Paternoster Square, next to St Paul's Cathedral, where it was restored and re-reconstructed. It reopened in 2004.
