''The Neighbours'' is a sculpture by Siegfried Charoux. It was commissioned in 1957 using funds set aside by

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

for

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

in its housing projects and unveiled in 1959 at the Quadrant Estate in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, N5, London, near

Clissold Park Clissold Park is an open space in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bounded by Greenway Close (to the north), Church Street (south), Green Lanes (west) and Queen Elizabeth's Walk (east); the south-east corner abuts St M ...

. It became 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 ...

in April 1998. The sculpture stands approximately high, on a low brick plinth. It depicts two life-size human figures, possibly intended to represent working men, sitting alongside each other on a bench. It was made using synthetic resin mixed with powdered stones, supported by a steel armature and fibreglass matting, creating an appearance similar to terracotta or cemented iron. It was renovated in 2009, in time for the 50th anniversary of its unveiling. A bronze maquette was sold for £2,250 by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

in 2011.

References

The Neighbours sculpture at Highbury Quadrant Estate
National Heritage List for England Historic England
The Neighbours
Robert Harris Conservation
The Neighbours maquette
Christie's, 23 March 2011

Islington Tribune, 4 September 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Neighbors, The Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Islington Outdoor sculptures in London