Who remembers what stood here before the bustling heart of King’s Cross took root? A monument, no less, or rather a testament to a king not universally beloved. King’s Cross, as we know it, inherited its name from a 60-foot-tall ode to King George IV, erected at the crossroads of New Road, Gray’s Inn Road, and Pentonville Road. This was 1830, and the monument, grand as it aimed to be, was met with less fanfare and more public derision. Imagine a structure described by some as “ridiculous,” crowned with an “absurd” statue of the king. For almost a decade, it loomed over King’s Cross, this brick-and-mortar monarch mimicking true stone, housing a police station and later, ironically, a public house. By 1845, perhaps echoing the sentiments of the not-so-fondly-remembered king, the monument was gone. King’s Cross, however, retained the name, a legacy born of a structure that aimed for grandeur but achieved only a fleeting notoriety.
Центральный дом работников искусств
Step through the grand wooden doors of the Central House of the Workers of Art, and you’ll be transported to