London's Only Women's Sculpture Garden Faces Eviction
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- Places for London, Transport for London's property arm, has informed arts charity theColab that its licence for the Artist's Garden at Temple station will not be renewed on 1 October and the site must be cleared.
- Places for London cited "essential repair and safety works" to the terrace and station roof as the reason, while saying it is working with Westminster city council to explore alternative locations nearby.
- Claire Mander, director of theColab, disputes the repair rationale, claiming the scope of works relates to upgrading the commercial property below the terrace with no large-scale roof overhaul mentioned; she fears the prime river-view site will be handed to a private developer and has threatened court action.
- Since opening in October 2021, the Artist's Garden has attracted 100,000 visitors a year, commissioned 18 major works, and collaborated with 24 emerging and established artists, backed by over £500,000 from Westminster council to date.
- An Art UK survey cited in the piece found that of nearly 1,500 London monuments, more than a fifth honour named men and only 4% honour women — half as many as those celebrating animals — while just 13% of public sculptures were created by women.
- Artists including Lakwena Maciver, Florence Peake, and Linder Sterling have exhibited at the site, with Peake arguing women's ambitious visions are "often rejected and considered naive" while men's monumental commissions are "hailed as a genius."
Why it matters: If theColab loses its threatened court fight, London's documented gender gap in public art widens further: 100,000 annual visitors, 18 commissions, and over £500,000 in public investment at the world's only female-devoted sculpture garden evaporate on 1 October. Mander's allegation that repairs mask a handover to a private developer for commercial rooftop use would, if true, swap a free cultural landmark for VIP bar revenue.
