Cabot Square & the Mosaics of Empire

Cabot Square in Canary Wharf, London, sits directly above the original 1936 fruit-trade wharf that gave the entire financial district its name. Beneath the square, Jubilee Place shopping mall contains Emma Biggs' Wharf Walk, a series of 17 marble and Venetian glass floor mosaics depicting historical trade goods. A memorial stone in the square honors banker Michael von Clemm, who first envisioned turning the derelict docks into a financial hub.

London Β· from the walk β€œDocks to Dollars” Β· audio ~3 min Β· Generated

Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 4QT

How did Canary Wharf in London get its name?

Look around you. Cabot Square is one of the central squares of the Canary Wharf development on the Isle of Dogs, and right now you're standing on ground with a remarkable double life. The Original Canary Wharf β€” the actual wharf β€” lies directly under the footprint of this very square.......... But how did it get that name... Canary Wharf? It wasn't named after birds. The name is a throwback to trade with the Canary Islands. Between the wars, those islands were a vital stop for ships heading to America, refuelling with British coal. The ships came back empty... until an enterprising businessman started filling them with local produce β€” bananas, tomatoes, potatoes. In nineteen thirty-six, berth thirty-two was built for Fruit Lines Limited, a subsidiary of the Norwegian Fred Olsen Lines, for the Canary Islands fruit trade, and the name Canary Wharf was born.......... Now, here's where it gets fascinating. If you head down into the Jubilee Place shopping mall β€” right beneath your feet β€” you'll find artist Emma Biggs' Wharf Walk, a trail of floor mosaics depicting the trades that passed through the original dockyards. Thirteen pavements in marble and Venetian glass Smalti, based on the history of goods traded through London's docks. The subjects include beaver skins, carpets, coffee, chocolate and tea, feathers, ropes, seashells, snake skins, textiles, tomatoes, tortoise shell, and wines and spirits. Think about That list! Each mosaic is a chapter of empire β€” from Caribbean sugar to Indian textiles β€” all flowing through these very docks. In twenty thirteen, when the mall was extended, Biggs was invited to create four new mosaics on the same theme, bringing the total to seventeen.......... And most commuters walk right over them... without ever looking down.......... Now, before you leave Cabot Square, look toward the northwest corner. There you'll find a small memorial stone to Michael von Clemm, an international banker of the nineteen sixties, seventies and eighties, who had one of the original ideas for turning these derelict docklands into a financial centre. His story is extraordinary. In his role as chairman of Roux Restaurants, von Clemm visited the derelict Port of London during the early nineteen eighties, looking for a site for a food processing plant. The spark came during a lunch on a barge moored in the West India Dock. He looked through a porthole at an old warehouse... and it reminded him of converted warehouses in Boston Harbor. His idea evolved from a simple back office for his bank into something Far grander β€” effectively creating a second financial services district in London.......... So the next time someone tells you Canary Wharf was always about money... remind them it started with bananas, and a lunch on a boat.

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