Essex Street takes you down from the Strand to the Embankment by Middle Temple.
At the south end of the street is this old Water Gate built in 1676 as part of a “polite” development of grand houses. In those days the Embankment had not yet been built and the river front here was a working space with boats landing their cargoes to be stored in the local wharves. The developer considered the view vulgar and the Gate was designed to provide pedestrian access to the river without the arriviste locals having to look at at the oiks that worked there.
It did not have a good (second world) war. The Gate took a direct hit which knocked the top off the arch. Hanslip Fletcher sketched the devastated building looking south from Essex Street soon after it had been bombed. You can see the Middle Temple library on its left.
The arch was rebuilt as part of a building at that end of the street in 1953.
Essex Street’s Water Gate sketched by Hanslip Fletcher after it had been bombed.
