BANK OF ENGLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 11 May 1920, Page 1

BANK OF ENGLAND

Following so closely on the recent discussion of proposals for erecting taller buildings in London, it will doubtless come as a shock to many people to learn that one of tile first victoms to bo sacrificed is the “Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.” A cable message told us that it is intended to robuild the Bank of England, “making it seven storeys, and architecturally worthy of the world’s most valuable building site.” For many reasons, the disappearance from the “City” of the massive one-storey structure, which is one of the landmarks of the Empire, and which has been described as the heart of the financial world, is a matter for regret, though it lias always been a puzzle to visitors to London why so great an area of extremely valuable land should so long hvae been occupied by so dingy and unpretentious a structure. The present Bank of England covers an irregular quadrilateral, four acres in area, bounded by Lothbury on the north, Bartholomew lane on the east, Threadnecdle street on the south, and Princes street on the west.

The Bank of England was founded in 1094, a loan to the Government being the origin of its establishment. A pamphlet, explaining the purposes for which the Bank was established, supplied some curious illustrations of the dangers which some persons hail imagined might arise from its connexion with William 111, and deprecated the fear “lest it should hereafter joyn with the prince to make him absolute, and so render Parliaments useless. Tho Bank of England was the. first jointstock association in 'England, and its original capital was £1,200,000 (it is now £14,553,000, \vith a “rest” of £3,121,000), lent to the Government of 8 per cent. The management of the British National Debt has been confided to the Bank from the date of its foundation, and it has remained the banker of the Government ever since. It was the only joint-stock bank in London till 1834, when the London and Westminster Bank was established. The Bank of England, which is a private corporation, is the only, bank in London with tho power of issuing paper money, and it is entitled.to issue notes to tho value of £10,200,000 without a gold reserve behind them. The Bank is controlled by a Governor, DeputyGovernor. and twenty-four Directors, and the total number of employees is about 1500. Besides English banknotes from £5 to £IOOO, the Bank of England prints postal orders and Indian bank notes. All notes paid into the Bank used to be cancelled, even if paid on the same day Lis issued, but the cancelled notes were preserved for five, years. At night the Bank of England is protected by a small guard of soldiers, besides clerks and watchmen. The one-storeyccl building hitherto occupied by the Bank of England owes its present appearance mainly to Sir John Soane, architect to the Bank from 1788, though the central part was erected in 1732-34. The structure occupied the space previously covered by the house and gardens of Sir John Iloublon, the first Governor. Between 17(54 and 1788 the wings were erected. In 1.780 the directors, alarmed at. the dangerous facilities which the adjacent church of St. Oliristopher-le-Stocks might give to a mob, obtained .parliamentary powers and acquired the church, on the site of which much of the present building stands. ’Hie garden court of the Bank, with its fountain was once the churchyard of St. Christopher. In the days when Sir John Soane designed the present building, security demanded that the Bank should be lighted solely from interior courts. Tho external walls are, therefore windowless, but the architect evaded the strict conditions of

design by masking the solid walls with blank windows and Corinthian columns. It will take Londoners a long time to get used to a seven-storeyed Bank of England. ,