There is a webcam in the grounds of the
recording studios that is aimed towards the crossing. It can be seen here.
The Virtual Globetrotting website has an
aerial view of the crossing here.
You will need to zoom in to get a good view though!
The BBC website [visit link]
tells us:
"The Abbey Road zebra crossing in
north London - made famous after appearing on a Beatles album cover - has been
given Grade II listed status.
The crossing - the first of its kind
to be listed - is being recognised for its "cultural and historical importance"
following advice from English Heritage.
The Beatles were photographed on
Abbey Road in Ian Macmillan's iconic cover shot for the 1969 album Abbey
Road.
Sir Paul McCartney said it was the
"icing on the cake" in a great year.
'Huge cultural pull'
The original zebra crossing, where
the photograph was taken, was moved several metres for traffic management
reasons more than 30 years ago, and no original features remain.
A spokesman for Westminster City
Council said: "The detail of exactly when and why the crossing was moved from
its original location have been lost in the annals of time.
"But by comparing photographs with
the Ordnance Survey maps, we believe that the crossing might have been further
north nearer 3 Abbey Road, which was the front house of the EMI Studios, because
the steps of Neville Court appear to the right of the crossing in original
photographs of the crossing, whereas the present crossing is near the junction
of Abbey Road and Grove End Road."
But John Penrose, Minister for
Tourism and Heritage, said: "This London zebra crossing is no castle or
cathedral but, thanks to the Beatles and a 10-minute photo-shoot one August
morning in 1969, it has just as strong a claim as any to be seen as part of our
heritage."
Roger Bowdler, head of designation
at English Heritage, said: "This is obviously an unusual case and, although a
modest structure, the crossing has international renown and continues to possess
huge cultural pull - the temptation to recreate that iconic 1969 album cover
remains as strong as ever.
"Together with the nearby Abbey Road
studios, also listed at Grade II on our advice, they remain a Mecca for Beatles
fans the world over."
Sir Paul said: "It's been a great
year for me and a great year for the Beatles and hearing that the Abbey Road
crossing is to be preserved is the icing on the cake."
The crossing is outside the Abbey
Road studios, where the Beatles recorded much of their output.
That building was granted Grade II
listed status in February.
A Grade II listing, the most common
protected status, means that a building or monument is recognised as nationally
important and of special interest."
The listing at the English Heritage
website [visit
link] tells us:
"Zebra Crossing with Belisha
Beacons, Abbey Road, mid C20.
DESCRIPTION: The zebra crossing is
located on Abbey Road to the SE of Abbey Road Studios, outside Abbey House,
1-121, Abbey Road. It has six wide 'zebra' stripes painted in white onto the
Tarmac road surface, flanked by two lines of dashed marks either side of the
crossing and zig-zag approach lines along the approach kerbs and down the centre
of the road, signifying to drivers that there is no parking on the approaches.
Both the dashed marks and zig-zag lines are later additions, added since The
Beatles' Abbey Road album cover photograph was taken in 1969, and are not of
special interest. Two Belisha Beacons, are located at the NE and SW corners of
the crossing with amber globes, probably plastic, atop black and white painted
metal poles with stepped bases. Their date is not known but they are not of the
earliest phase of beacons of 1930s vintage when the poles were straight and the
globes in glass. Graffiti and stickers have been applied to the poles in a
manner mirroring the graffiti applied to the garden wall of the nearby Abbey
Road Studios. The beacons are not visible on the album cover image but would
have been in place at that time as the beacons pre-dated the zebra stripes on
this type of crossing.
HISTORY: The pedestrian crossing in
its modern form dates to 1934 and was introduced by Lord Hore-Belisha
(1893-1957) who was the Liberal Minister for Transport. The first examples were
in London but following the Road Traffic Act of 1934 were rolled out nationally
in 1935. Originally the sides of the crossing were demarcated on the road by
metal studs with diagonally opposing amber glass beacons on black and white
poles to identify the crossing point. The beacons were not internally lit at
this date. The crossings and the beacons were immediately referred to as Belisha
Beacons after Lord Hore-Belisha. The black and white stripes, as well as
flashing beacons, were added from March 1949 following public calls to increase
their visibility and thus the safety of pedestrians. The distinctive stripes led
to the crossings being known as 'Zebra Crossings', the start of a group of
crossings named after fauna such as Pelican, Puffin and Toucan. The zebra
crossing's dimensions and design details were formalised by the 'Zebra'
Pedestrian Crossing Regulations 1971. Modern beacons are in plastic and a
further modification has seen the insertion of zig-zag lines on the approaches
to the crossings to alert drivers that they must not park in these areas. Zebra
crossings can now be found all over the world.
The Abbey Road album was The
Beatles' final album recording and was first released on 26 September 1969. The
majority of the album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, 3 Abbey Road and the
album cover shot on the nearby zebra crossing to the south-east. Brian Southall,
author of the 1997 history of Abbey Road Studios, reports that the idea for the
cover originated with a Paul McCartney sketch of four stick men on the crossing.
The photographer was Iain Macmillan who knew the Beatles through working with
Yoko Ono and the photograph was taken on 8 August 1969. The photographer was
only given about fifteen minutes and used a stepladder to take photographs while
a policeman stopped the traffic.
It is an unusual cover in that it
does not include the name of the band or album, but rather lets the image speak
for itself; a decision taken by John Kosh, the creative director for Apple who
rightly believed that as the most famous band in the world, text was
unnecessary. The album topped both the UK and US charts. Come Together, the
opening track, is probably the best known.
The cover image is very famous in
itself and spawned conspiracy theories about coded messages implicit in the
image: the notion that Paul McCartney was in fact dead as, for example, he is
the only Beatle shown without shoes and out of step. Paul parodied the cover
himself and referred to the conspiracy theory when photographed on the crossing
with an Old English Sheepdog for the cover of his 1993 album 'Paul is Live', and
there have been many other parodies internationally which are a testament to the
significance and fame of the image. Recent examples include: a nude parody by
the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their The Abbey Road EP (1988); Kanye West's 'Live
Orchestration' album (2006) and a somewhat dark parody by the Argentinean comedy
group Longua de Trapo ('Vinte e Um Anos na Estrade' album of 2000) where the
band appear to have been run over.
The date that the crossing was
installed on Abbey Road and the date of the added zebra stripes is not known
(although the latter is presumed to date to the 1950s.) It has been suggested
that the crossing was slightly moved to the south-east in the 1970s, closer to
the junction with Grove Road. However, comparison between the cover photograph
and its present position suggests that it may have been moved a little to the
north, closer to the studio gates, but it has not been possible to confirm this.
Whether or not it is the same crossing depicted on the album cover or one very
close to the original site, it remains a place of pilgrimage, with the studios,
for Beatles fans from all over the world. Groups of tourists always gather to
photograph the crossing and walk the walk and there is a live video streaming
web-cam."