Where will the Minories Roman eagle spend the rest of its days?
NOT MANY building projects can boast being built on the 1,800 year old nesting place of a sculpted Roman eagle, but the Minories development near Tower Bridge can do just that – as we found out in October of last year when they discovered the artifact in the foundations.
Well, the building celebrated an important milestone yesterday with its topping out ceremony, attended by Aberdeen Asset Management fund manager Gerry Ferguson, who manages Aberdeen’s £2.6bn SWIP Property Trust – the Minories’ owner.
“The area is certainly picking up and we’re confident we got in at the right time and no doubt the building, soon to be the Minories Hotel, will be popular with City firms,” Ferguson told The Capitalist.
But what of the eagle, which is now owned by the fund (finders keepers and all that)? “It’s in the Museum of London at the moment while we work out where its final resting place should be. It’s our choice but we recognise the importance of it.”
We’d like to nominate somewhere in the City – that aquila’s a keeper.