A Cambridge council has ordered the removal of a faceless statue of Prince Philip. the guard. Years after initially being erected without permission, the statue will be removed from the site.
The 13m monument depicting the Queen’s late husband in academic robes with an abstracted face stands outside an office block in Cambridge. Nadine Black, Cambridge city council’s head of public art, previously described it as “perhaps the worst quality work ever presented to the council”.
“It is not site specific and it is a work that has already been purchased and has no relation to this site. The scale is too large for the context of the space it will be located in and will compromise the quality of the new development,” he continued.
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“The Don”, as he is known, was designed to celebrate Philip’s 35-year tenure as Chancellor of Cambridge University. Unfortunately, the £150,000 job was not well received.
The piece has been heavily criticized, and the artist has never come forward to claim it as his own. The Unex Group, which commissioned the piece, said it was made by the Uruguayan sculptor Pablo Atchugarry. The artist, however, has denied this claim.
No planning permission was granted in 2014. However, around four years ago the piece was installed outside the city’s Charter House office block. The council sent an enforcement notice to remove the statue to the landowner, the Unex Group. The statue is due to be removed in August.
“No one, apart from the wealthy property developer who commissioned it, seems to have a good word to say about it,” executive planning councilor Katie Thornburrow wrote on her website. “I’ll be glad to see it gone, but I’m still angry that developers can leave it in place and then force the council to spend officers’ time and money to remove them. We deserve better.”
On March 5, an enforcement notice issued by the Greater Cambridge shared planning service stated a “material adverse impact” requiring it to be removed, without appeal.
