This charming bronze sculpture sits by the boating lake of North London’s Alexandra Palace in the Borough of Haringey. Opened in 1873, Ally Pally, as it is often referred to, was never a palace in the traditional sense. Instead, it was always intended to be "The People's Palace," a location for the public to enjoy for recreation, education, and entertainment.
Over the years, Leo the Lion has been climbed on and admired by hundreds of children, but the connection between the lion with "Leo" engraved on his collar and the park was yet to be understood. It wasn’t until 2019 that documents from the Alexandra Palace archive revealed the origins of Leo the Lion. Sometime in 1973, sculptor Sir Charles Wheeler, who worked on many public buildings including the Bank of England and a fountain in Trafalgar Square, was commissioned by the Greater London Council to create a lion sculpture for Alexandra Park sitting at the entrance to the children’s zoo.
Even though the zoo was never built, Leo the Lion was placed at the proposed entrance and has sat there ever since.
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