Hall of Commerce
51°30′52″N 0°05′08″W / 51.514405°N 0.085603°W
The Hall of Commerce was a building on Threadneedle Street in the City of London, originally as an exchange, before conversion to a bank and eventual demolition in 1922.[1]
History
[edit]Construction
[edit]The building was devised as Edward Moxhay, a shoemaker and biscuit-baker, who designed its French-inspired design himself.[1] Built between 1842 and 1844 on the site of the chapel of St. Anthony's Hospital to rival the nearby Royal Exchange, finding little success however.[2] It was supposed that this had come after a rejection of Moxhay's application to provide a new design for the Royal Exchange.[3]
Conversion
[edit]The building was converted into a bank in 1855, and in 1867, the Comptoir d’Escompte de Paris, a predecessor of BNP Paribas opened its first bank in Britain within the building.[4]
Legacy
[edit]The frieze Commerce Welcoming All Nations by Musgrave Watson adorned the facade, and was preserved and moved the Napier Street in Islington following the building's demolition.[5] The site is now occupied by the Grade II* listed former Westminster Bank building.[6]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus, eds. (2002). The City of London (1. publ. by Yale Univ. Press ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 603–604. ISBN 978-0-300-09624-8.
- ↑ "Victorian London - Buildings, Monuments and Museums - Hall of Commerce". www.victorianlondon.org. Retrieved 2026-08-22.
- ↑ "Threadneedle Street | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-22.
- ↑ histoire (2018-11-15). "At the heart of the world's economic and financial capital - BNP Paribas". BNP Paribas. Retrieved 2026-08-22.
- ↑ Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher, eds. (1995). The London encyclopaedia (Rev. ed.). London: Macmillan. p. 532. ISBN 978-0-333-57688-5.
- ↑ "9, OLD BROAD STREET EC2, 51-53, THREADNEEDLE STREET EC2, Non Civil Parish - 1358901 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-22.