Murals

Philippa Threlfall and Kennedy Collings – History of Bristol, Bristol

Listing: Unlisted
Condition: Condition unknown
Material Type: Terracotta
Building Type: Commercial / Industrial
Artist / Designer: Philippa Threlfall and Kennedy Collings
Owners: Unknown
Date: 1982
Address: Broad Quay House, Broad Quay, Bristol BS1 4DJ
Local Authority: Bristol City Council
County: Bristol
Country: England

A frieze of fifteen terracotta mural panels located on the 1980s Broad Quay House office building in Bristol. Created by artists Philippa Threlfall and Kennedy Collings in 1982 for the Standard Life company, the murals depict key moments and artefacts from eight hundred years of Bristol’s history, spanning the 12th to the 20th century. They include motifs from the tobacco trade and Brunel’s SS Great Britain, to the Cooperative movement, Concorde, and controversial slave-trader Edward Colston. The murals were threatened by proposals in 2025 to retrofit the building but C20 Society has worked closely with the developers, Aberdeen Investments, and officers at Bristol City Council to ensure that the artworks will now be carefully removed from the existing building and re-installed on the new façades, subject to formal planning approval.