The Bank of England was founded in 1694 and relocated in 1734 to the former home of its first governor, John Houblon, initiating successive expansions. Sir John Soane rebuilt the entire site over 45 years and created the fortress-like exterior still visible, but most of his work was demolished in the 1920s. The current Herbert Baker building incorporates reused decorative objects and an inlaid Roman mosaic in a staircase, and features art allegories to commerce and science. Two constellation motifs in the entrance align with the Governor's office, which sits beneath the Court Room and adjacent to a double-doored room for private rate discussions. The classical stone interior conceals a modern steel structure.
The bank, founded in 1694, relocated to its current location, which was, at the time, the private home of the Bank of England's first governor, John Houblon, in 1734, and has been expanding ever since. Piecemeal at first, buying up neighbouring buildings, but it was the famed rebuilding by Sir John Soane that took 45 years to rebuild the entire site, and largely created the external appearance of a fortress that survives today.
However, as the exhibition shows, apart from that dominant wall, very little of the Soane bank survives, as it was almost entirely demolished in the 1920s. To considerable public outcry, but candidly, it's quite likely that had it been Sir John Soane doing the rebuilding, he'd have demolished what was there before as well. The exhibition will mainly focus on the Herbert Baker designed bank that exists today, and will include a lot of archival photos from the rebuilding work.
On display will be an image of the Roman mosaic that was discovered during the rebuilding and incorporated into one of the bank's staircases as a feature. Also, some of the many smaller objects reused from the Soane building as decoration for the new one. There will also be a lot about the art commissioned by Baker to decorate the bank, such as the allegories to commerce and science in the main banking hall.
Two constellations of the Northern Plough and Southern Cross in the entrance hall happen to point towards an important room in the bank - the Governor's office. He sits underneath the Court Room, used by the board of directors, and next to a small room with double doors to prevent eavesdropping when they debate changes to the UK's interest rates.
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