Cleopatra's Kiosk is a small building and shop, on the

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London, and acts as a major thoroughfare ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, under the

Hungerford Bridge The Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd (who use its official name of Charing Cross Bridge) it is a steel truss railway bridge ...

. Built in the late 1940s the old kiosk has been replaced by a new futuristic structure.

History

In May 1940 Commander Coakley took his two Thames 'little ships' to rescue men stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk. One little ship was lost and the other badly damaged. To enable Commander Coakley to earn a living after the war the

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...

(PLA) rented him a small piece of land on the Victoria Embankment. It was here that Coakley erected a kiosk from which to sell tickets for riverboats. In 1960 Coakley wished to retire and contacted one of his relatives, Kate Stanton, to enquire if she would be willing to run the kiosk for him. Kate ran it with her other business interests for a year or two, and increased sales substantially. In 1964 Kate's daughter, Julia Stanton, took over the running of Cleopatra's Kiosk and has been there ever since. In 1998 it was reported that the kiosk had not been closed since shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

apart from

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

s. To help construction of the Golden Jubilee pedestrian Bridge (Hungerford Bridge)

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

at first proposed that the kiosk should be removed and issued a

compulsory purchase order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...

but later agreed that the kiosk would be moved to a nearby temporary location to allow the business to continue whilst the footbridge construction works were in progress. Owing to the move, the fabric of the kiosk deteriorated.

Architectural competition

It was agreed by Westminster City Council that the area between the base of the brick railway pier and the steps leading from Embankment pier through the listed river wall will be leased to Samuel Alexander Ltd (the owners of the kiosk). A new structure was planned to be designed and constructed on this site. Following an international

architectural design competition An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel o ...

held in 2003 by

RIBA Competitions RIBA Competitions is the Royal Institute of British Architects' unit dedicated to organising architectural and other design-related competitions. Architectural design competitions are used by an organisation that plans to build a new building or re ...

, in which over 200 of the world's leading architects competed, the old kiosk was replaced by a new highly modernistic one designed by the Italian firm Bianchini e Lusiardi associati with the work projected to take up to five years. It was actually completed in July 2007 with the cost of the project amounting to £160,000. The site is located to the north west of the Golden Jubilee Bridge on the Victoria Embankment opposite the Embankment Tube Station.

References

{{reflist

External links

Cleopatra's Kiosk on New London Architecture
Architecture of London Kiosks Victoria Embankment