The story starts in May 2016 when SHG member and website manager, Darrell Webb, discovered that the Torre Monumental (Torre des Ingleses or English Tower) was built with bricks from Stonehouse Brick and Tile Co Ltd. The inauguration of the building took place on May 24, 1916 and so Darrell thought it would be a good idea to send a plaque from Stonehouse History Group commemorating its centenary.
Click here to read more about the plaque
In July 2018 Linda Webb received a message from John Hunter telling her that Boris Johnson had visited Buenos Aires in May 2018 in his capacity as Foreign Secretary. As part of his trip he visited the English Tower and was presented with a Stonehouse Brick & Tile Company brick in a presentation case. John sent us some photos of Boris with the brick.
Left to right: Mark Kent, British Ambassador, Enrique Avogadro, Buenos Aires Culture Minister, Boris Johnson and Ricardo Pinal Villanuenva, Director of the Museo de la Ciudad.
Boris Johnson receives the brick from Enrique Avogadro, the Buenos Aires Culture Minister
Linda and Vicki talked about this and wondered what would happen to the brick. We joked that it might be discarded round the back of the Tower! So we decided to email Boris Johnson and enquire about the whereabouts of the brick. Mr Johnson and his assistant could not have been more helpful. We were amazed that they arranged for the brick to be transported from Buenos Aires to the Foreign Office in London. All we had to do was collect it!
Luckily Darrell’s son Aaron Webb works in London and he arranged a convenient time for himself and his brother Ryan to collect it from the Foreign Office.
On 25th September the brick came home after 100 years abroad.
Sadly Darrell Webb died in November 2017 but we are sure he would have loved to see the brick collected by his sons.
Aaron and Ryan collect the brick