The Michael Faraday Memorial is a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

to the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

scientist

Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...

. It is located at Elephant Square in

Elephant and Castle Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The n ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Description

The

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

box-shaped structure was designed by modern movement architect

Rodney Gordon Rodney H Gordon (2 February 1933 – 30 May 2008) was an English architect. He was the primary architect of the Tricorn Centre, Portsmouth, and Trinity Square, Gateshead. Architecturally, his works were primarily in concrete; he was said to b ...

in 1959 and built in 1961, on the centre of what was the northern roundabout of the Elephant and Castle gyratory system. It commemorates Michael Faraday's importance as a scientist and was placed at Elephant and Castle because Faraday's birthplace is nearby in

Newington Butts Newington Butts is a former hamlet, now an area of the London Borough of Southwark, London, England, that gives its name to a segment of the A3 road running south-west from the Elephant and Castle junction. The road continues as Kennington Park ...

.The interior of the construction contains a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station an ...

for the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

and

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that runs between in suburban north-west London and in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs par ...

(somewhat appropriate for a memorial to one of the great pioneers of electricity). Rodney Gordon originally designed the box clad in glass, intending the workings of the

transformer In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...

to be seen. The possibility of vandalism prevented this, so the design was changed to a metal casing. Aspects of Gordon's design which explained the connection to Faraday were left out when it was constructed, so few people realise why it is there. However, there is an inscription in the concrete paving nearby explaining that it is the Faraday Memorial. In 1996, the monument was given Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

status.

Proposed and actual changes

In 1996, the memorial was given a new lighting scheme designed by a local schoolgirl from English Martyrs R.C primary school, the result of a competition held by ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

,'' the BBC children's programme. Plans in the early 2000s to redevelop the Elephant and Castle included turning the roundabout into a peninsula and moving the Michael Faraday Memorial 400 metres south-east to the

Walworth Road The A215 is an A roads in Great Britain, A road in south London, starting at Elephant and Castle and finishing around Shirley, London, Shirley. It runs through the London Boroughs of London Borough of Lambeth, Lambeth, London Borough of Southw ...

, where it would stand next to the

Cuming Museum The Cuming Museum in Walworth Road in Elephant and Castle, within the London Borough of Southwark, London, England, was a museum housing the collection of the Cuming family and later collections on Southwark's history. As of 2021, its collection ...

and possibly become part of a proposed science museum. These plans were shelved as the regeneration of Elephant and Castle evolved into a scheme that retained the roundabout, before changing into a scheme that retained the memorial in its current position by "peninsulaising" it, in the process making it easier to access. In May 2012, the 16-year-old lighting scheme (which had long since stopped working) was replaced with a new

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

theme by Southwark Council, animating every evening after dark.

In popular culture

Electronic musician

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

satirically claimed in a 2001 interview to have bought the structure and lived inside it. The structure briefly appears in the official video for Aphex Twin's "T69 Collapse".

References

External links

20th Century Society Risky Buildings listing for the memorialElephant & Castle Roundabout "Making a Space a Place"Elephant & Castle official regeneration website
{{coord, 51, 29, 42, N, 0, 6, 2, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1961 sculptures Brutalist architecture in London Monuments and memorials in London Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Southwark Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Southwark Michael Faraday