Royal Exchange
Bank
London
EC3V 3LR
Visitor Information
Architect: Sir William Tite
Built: 1844
Awards: Grade II listed
Facing the Bank of England and Mansion House is this impressive building with stately Corinthian pillars at its entrance. It is the third building on its site – the first two were destroyed by fire (the Great Fire of 1666 and an internal blaze in 1838). Sir William Tite was the architect behind the building that still stands today, though his design stayed true to the buildings of Sir Thomas Gresham (1565) and Edward Jerman (1669). Gresham’s idea was to create a central place of commerce and he paid for the structure himself, modelling it on the Antwerp Stock Exchange – a trading floor with offices and shops set around an open courtyard.
Charles II was so enamoured with the building that he was invited to lay the first foundation stone of Edward Jerman’s post-Great Fire design, an event witnessed by Samuel Pepys. It opened in 1669, with four arcades, upper storeys lined with shops and a central trading floor. Following the 1838 fire,
Sir William Tite was appointed architect. Prince Albert laid the foundation stone in 1842 and in 1844 Queen Victoria opened the new building in a lavish ceremony.
Trading at the Royal Exchange virtually ceased with the onset of the Second World War but the building was undamaged. In 1953 the Mermaid Theatre was established and performances of As You Like It and Macbeth took place in the courtyard for Elizabeth II’s coronation. The building was refurbished in 1991 by Aukett Fitzroy Robinson architects, who added additional floors in keeping with the original style. Elizabeth II officially opened the building. It was then extensively remodelled in 2001 to house retailers, cafes and restaurants and it is now a luxury shopping destination.