Summary
Civic fountain, installed in 1967, with standing sculptural panels by William Mitchell added in 1971.
Reasons for Designation
The civic fountain, installed in 1967, with standing sculptural panels by William Mitchell added in 1971, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as an accomplished and high-quality work of public art;
* as a fine example of the pioneering commissioning of art works by private companies and local authorities for exhibition in the public realm in the post-war era;
* for its design by William Mitchell, an eminent sculptor of public artworks, a number of whose works are listed and some at high grades;
* for its rarity as Mitchell’s only known Faircrete sculpture in the public domain.
Historic interest:
* as a key piece of public art in the redesign of Southend-on-Sea in the post-war era and its impressive civic scheme.
History
A new civic complex, designed by Patrick Burridge, Borough architect, was constructed on the east side of Victoria Avenue in 1967, comprising (from north to south): a car park, council suite and 16-storey council office block (known as the Civic Centre), a college in two phases, a police headquarters, and a courthouse. The civic complex was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1967. A new central library was later constructed to the south of the courthouse in 1974 (now the Beecroft Art Gallery). A civic square was designed to form the central heart of scheme, flanked on the north side by the Civic Centre, the east side by the police headquarters and the south side by the courthouse. An article published in Building journal in 1967 shows the civic square still occupied by a Victorian building, and early photographs of the completed scheme show the civic square paved with a round pool and fountain (Francis Frith). Architects at the Borough Council persuaded the Council to commission William Mitchell to design a sculpture for the fountain at a cost of £8,500, as well as a reworking of the coat of arms over the mayor’s chair in the council chamber. The sculptural panels of the fountain were crafted on-site in 1971; a photograph records William Mitchell working on scaffolding and the sculpture being completed in the Autumn of 1971. The imagery on the sculptural panels reflects that on the coats of arms of the Borough, depicted nearby on a mural on the entrance wall of the Civic Centre. Southend-on-Sea was granted city status in 2022.
William Mitchell (1925-2020) was a prolific and innovative architectural sculptor who worked in various materials but most notably concrete. He grew up in London and worked in painting and decorating before undertaking a National Diploma in Design at the Southern College of Art in Portsmouth, from which he secured a scholarship to the Royal College of Art and thence to the British School in Rome. In 1957 he was appointed London County Council’s first in-house artist, a short-term post shared with Anthony Hollaway. The LCC’s architects, led by Oliver Cox, had fought for the post, wanting to encourage site-specific works using cheap materials; the art was to cost no more than conventional construction. Mitchell’s first medium was concrete, and throughout his career he developed a number of techniques, including casting concrete from glass fibre moulds, and crafting sculptures from wet concrete which he termed 'Faircrete'.
Mitchell’s work can be grouped into a few types: early work for London County Council on public housing and related community buildings, which led to work in many schools and public libraries around the country; large-scale schemes such as those at the Three Tuns public house in Coventry, and the Lea Valley Water Company in Hatfield (both Grade II); sculptural works within a host building, such as at Liverpool and Clifton cathedrals (both Grade II*); freestanding works, such as the totem sculptures at University of Salford (colloquially known as the ‘Minut Men’) and the ‘Corn King and Spring Queen’ sculptures at Wexham Park (both Grade II); the decoration of retaining walls such as those at Harlow Water Gardens, and underpasses at Hockley Circus in Birmingham, Kidderminster roundabout, and Stevenage (all Grade II); and lastly, his work overseas in the 1970s and 1980s, including sculptural fountains at the Federal Building in Honolulu, Hawaii, murals at Richmond Station, San Francisco, and works in the Middle East.
Details
Civic fountain, installed in 1967, with standing sculptural panels by William Mitchell added in 1971.
MATERIALS: The sculptural panels are crafted from a combination of fibreglass and black concrete and stand on concrete plinths within a concrete pool; the exterior of the pool is faced in brown brick.
PLAN: The pool is round on plan; the three sculptures are detached from each other and arranged in a circle within the round pool.
DESCRIPTION: The civic fountain comprises three sculptural panels standing in a circle in a round pool, facing roughly southwards, westwards, and north-eastwards. The panels stand around 6 metres tall and 1.5 metres wide, and are roughly rectangular in shape with chamfered sides and / or plinths. The panels have sculptural reliefs on their outward and inward faces, combining stylised figurative and naturalistic forms with abstract and geometric borders and detailing. The imagery depicted on the sculptural panels represents the motto of Southend-on-Sea ‘Per Mare Per Ecclesiam’ (Through the Sea Through the Church) and the city’s coat of arms.
The north-east facing panel depicts the city’s coat of arms over a battered plinth: from the bottom there is a trefoil (the emblem of the Holy Trinity, representing the parish church of Southchurch), an anchor (the emblem of St Clement, the Patron Saint of Leigh) and a grid iron (the emblem of St Lawrence, the Patron Saint of Eastwood) either side of a vase of lilies in a triangular surround (the emblem of the Virgin, representing the parish of St Mary, Prittlewell). The panel has a rectangular cap with margined ornament, seemingly depicting a ship’s mast reflected in the water below (a ship’s mast features on the mural crown of the city’s coat of arms). The decoration on the inward face is near identical. The south-facing panel has a bearded religious figure on its outward face, possibly wearing a mitre and possibly representing St Clement, and a hooded monk-like figure on its inward face (likely representing the Cluniac Priory of St Mary, Prittlewell). Each is depicted within a decorative frame, with a stylised face, hand and staff in relief, and their cloak and mitre or hood are represented by blank space. The west-facing panel has a fishman in medieval dress on its outward and inward faces (representing Leigh Port); the fisherman’s net trails along the north side into the water of the round pool.
The round pool is constructed of concrete and its parapet and exterior wall are faced in brown brick.
