Paul Highnam
RA Collection: Art
The Royal Academy wanted a suitably grand carriage entrance from Piccadilly and in place of Campbell's gate, Banks and Barry built a lavishly decorated archway: its coffered underside was peppered with 'VR' (Victoria Regina: Queen Victoria's monogram); its keystones were adorned with symbolic masks; its piers carved with Renaissance-inspired grotesquerie; a tower perched high above; and huge wrought iron gates.