Members of the West Durward Street Tenants and Residents Association voted to propose a statue of Joseph Merrick be placed in the centre of a new community garden on Durward Street.
The new space, ‘Joseph’s Garden’ will be created in the space currently occupied by Whitechapel temporary underground station / Crossrail and a newly pedestrianised western section of Durward Street.
WDSTRA members suggested that the quote Joseph Merrick is famously associated with could be incorporated into an additional piece of public art within the garden or on the Fulbourne Street bridge
If I could reach from pole to pole or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul, The mind’s the standard of the Man.
The statue will be located in sight of both the Royal London Hospital where Joseph Merrick lived his last years and the shop where he was first put on show when brought to London.