Victoria Tower Gardens *

Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list.  The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.

Victoria Tower Gardens were laid out following the embankment of the Thames by the Metropolitan Board of Works and undertaken by its Chief Engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette. The idea of embankment was not new, and Sir Christopher Wren had conceived a riverside quay for the City as early as 1666. A Royal Commission was set up and in 1844 recommended an embankment should be built between Blackfriars and Chelsea. The Metropolitan Board of Works was established in 1855, one of its main tasks being that of solving the sewage problem in London. An Act was passed in 1862 to approve the project and Bazalgette's scheme was put forward in 1863, with a massive sewer to be built below the new tree-lined roadway, with a granite river wall. Apart from the new road, much of the 15 hectares taken from the river was converted into public gardens. The Victoria Tower Lodge and the gates to Black Rod Garden are by Sir Charles Barry and Pugin, 1850-60.

Victoria Tower Gardens were laid out south of the Houses of Parliament in 1864-70 and were extended c.1914. The triangular site is bounded by Abingdon Street and Millbank to the west, by the Houses of Parliament to the north, and by the Thames to the east. The south tip of the gardens reaches Lambeth Bridge. The gardens have a central lawn, with perimeter paths and shrubbery along the north and north-west boundaries. Within the gardens are a number of features including the bronze statue of Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst by A. G. Walker, which was erected in 1930 and moved to its present site in 1956 at the north-west corner of the gardens. The bronze statuary group by Auguste Rodin of the Burghers of Calais, 1895, was originally erected in 1915 and re-sited in the north centre lawn on a lower pedestal c.1980. Also in the gardens is the Buxton Memorial Fountain by S S Teulon, 1865/6, situated in the south-eastern lawn, but originally stood in Parliament Square (q.v.). There are fine views of the river provided by raised seats. Further south, beyond Lambeth Bridge, is an additional riverside garden, Victoria Tower Gardens South (q.v.), maintained by Westminster City Council.

Victoria Tower Gardens is under severe threat as a result of the project to construct a Holocaust Memorial Centre in the park, which will essentially divide the site and result in loss of public facilities.