Seven Dials Covent Garden is a unique quarter of London whose star-shaped layout remains as constructed in the early 1690s. It was brought back to life largely through the dedication of the Seven Dials Trust, working in partnership with the local authorities and landowners for nearly forty years.

As architect A.D.Mason of Whitfield Partners writes in his article below, when designing the original Pillar Pierce would have chosen one of the classical orders for the column - Ionic, Doric, Corinthian etc - and then built it accordingly. We knew from the remains at Weybridge that  he had chosen Doric but then a chance discovery led to a conundrum. When researching Pierce in the British Museum, David Bieda found a reference to a drawing held in a cupboard which had remained unopened for many years - indeed a locksmith had to attend to open it. Inside was Pierce's original drawing. However, Pierce's hand-drawn figured dimensions did not match the actual drawing and neither quite tallied with the dimensions of the remains of the column at Weybridge.

Once Mason had solved the conundrum of designing the new Pillar, he presented the Trust with an extraordinary 40-foot high paper version in sections. They became the full size templates from which the trainee masons would work.