Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly circus The Daily Mail, London's largest journal, announced that a plan has been approved for the reconstruction of Piccadilly Circus.

The work may involve the removal of the Shaftesbury Memorial fountain. This fountain was erected in 1893 in memory of the eighth Earl of Shaftesbury, whose philanthropic work among the poor of London was the pride of the mid-Victorian era. The fountain is adorned with eight plaques of scenes from the philanthropist's life, and is surmounted by a figure of Eros, God of Love.

On the whole, architects and aesthetes view with concern what is called " the haphazard manner in which rebuilding is taking place." Mr. Henry Aldridge, Secretary of the National Housing and Town Planning

Council, says: " London is not an ordinary city--it is the heart of the Empire and should be made worthy of it." If a calamity like the Great Fire overtook us again, we should be in exactly the same position, with no definite scheme of rebuilding to turn to and no Christopher Wren to devise a scheme as he did at the request of Charles II."