Iconic statue to find new home at City Centre South entrance
It will be relocated
An iconic Coventry statue left hidden and forgotten by extensive demolition work for City Centre South will get new pride of place in the completed regeneration project.
The Phoenix, by Coventry artist George Wagstaffe, is a hugely significant sculpture created to symbolise the post-war rebuilding of Coventry. It represents the city and its people rising like a mythical phoenix bird from the ashes after the devastating damage of the Blitz.
It was unveiled in May 1962 by Princess Margaret and then recast in bronze in 1983 and given a second unveiling in June 1984 by the then Lord Mayor, Cllr W.S. Brandish.
The statue was originally displayed on its brickwork plinth in Market Way, between the former Woolworth store (later Poundland and now Boots) and BHS (now Sports Direct) in the city centre pedestrian precinct, near where the fountain is today.
A few years after the new bronze cast was done, it was relocated to the bottom of Hertford Street in 1987 when the precinct was redesigned.
City Centre South demolition work at Bull Yard and Warwick Row has left the Phoenix in a secluded corner next to the hoardings and fencing around the redevelopment site.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service spotted the piece tucked away next to a fast-food stand. Although largely hidden from public view, the sculpture looks like it is now presiding over a more modern era of reconstruction in City Centre South.
We asked the city council what was to become of the Phoenix when the regeneration is finished.
A Coventry City Council spokesperson said: “The Phoenix statue is an important piece of Coventry’s history. We plan to relocate the Phoenix statue to a more prominent place at one of the entrances to the City Centre South area, by the former Woolworths (Poundland).”
George Wagstaffe’s most famous work is the Naiad, a sculpture of a water nymph sitting in a relaxed pose on a rock.
Originally recreated in 1958 for a spot in the centre of an ornamental pool in Palace Yard, it was recast in bronze and moved to Lady Herbert’s Garden.
After being vandalised, it was put in storage for restoration. It then reappeared at Friargate and can now be seen languishing in a water feature in the Upper Precinct.