Virginia Woolf’s Bust in Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury
Updated: 2 days ago
In Tavistock Square Gardens stands a bronze bust of Virginia Woolf, just a short distance from where she lived for fifteen years. Created by sculptor Stephen Tomlin, the bust connects Woolf directly to the Bloomsbury neighbourhood that played such an important part in her life and writing.
The memorial is particularly fitting because Tavistock Square was not simply part of Woolf’s neighbourhood. For many years, it was her home.
The Virginia Woolf Bust in Tavistock Square
The bronze bust was created by sculptor Stephen Tomlin, who knew Woolf and was associated with the Bloomsbury circle. Tomlin made the original bust in 1931.
Many years later, the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain launched an appeal to establish a permanent memorial to Woolf in Tavistock Square. The bust was cast in bronze and installed in Tavistock Square Gardens, where it was unveiled by Anne Olivier Bell on 26 June 2004.
Its position was carefully chosen. Woolf had lived nearby at 52 Tavistock Square, making the gardens an especially appropriate place for her memorial.
Today, the bust provides a physical connection between Woolf and a part of London that remains closely associated with her.
Virginia Woolf at 52 Tavistock Square
Virginia and Leonard Woolf moved to 52 Tavistock Square in March 1924 and lived there until August 1939.
These were remarkably productive years for Woolf. During this period, some of her best-known works were published, including Mrs Dalloway in 1925, To the Lighthouse in 1927, Orlando in 1928, A Room of One’s Own in 1929 and The Waves in 1931.
Tavistock Square was also connected with the Hogarth Press, which Virginia and Leonard had founded in 1917. What had begun with a small hand press at their home in Richmond developed into an important independent publishing house.
The Woolfs eventually left Tavistock Square in 1939. Their former home no longer survives. The building was damaged during the Second World War and the site was later redeveloped. A plaque on the Tavistock Hotel now commemorates Virginia and Leonard Woolf and their connection with the square.
Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury
Woolf’s relationship with Bloomsbury began long before she moved to Tavistock Square.
After the death of her father in 1904, Virginia and her siblings moved from their family home in Kensington to 46 Gordon Square. She would later live at other Bloomsbury addresses, including Fitzroy Square and Brunswick Square.
The neighbourhood also gave its name to the Bloomsbury Group, the circle of writers, artists and intellectuals with whom Woolf became closely associated. Its members included figures such as Vanessa Bell, Lytton Strachey, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Roger Fry and Duncan Grant.
London itself became an important presence in Woolf’s writing. Streets, parks, squares and the movement of people through the city appear throughout her work. This is particularly evident in Mrs Dalloway, where a single day unfolds through the streets of London.
Finding Virginia Woolf in Tavistock Square Today
The house where Woolf lived has disappeared, but her connection with Tavistock Square has not.
Visitors can see her bronze bust in Tavistock Square Gardens and find the plaque marking Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s former home nearby. Together they make this small part of Bloomsbury one of the most tangible places in London to explore Woolf’s life.
The bust is therefore more than a memorial. It places Virginia Woolf back within the landscape she knew, close to the home where she lived and worked during some of the most important years of her literary career.
📍Virginia Woolf Bust, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 9NB
The nearest station is Russell Square Underground Station. 🚆
if you want to find more hidden literary gems in London visit our Writer's Path Map https://www.writerspath.co.uk/literary-map 👈
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