 The westfaçade of the Royal Exchange from theBank junction | |
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| Location | London, United Kingdom |
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| Coordinates | 51°30′49″N0°05′14″W / 51.51361°N 0.08722°W /51.51361; -0.08722 |
| Opening date | 23 January 1571; 454 years ago (1571-01-23) (original structure) 28 October 1844; 181 years ago (1844-10-28) (current structure) |
| Owner | The Ardent Companies (since 2022) |
| Architect | Sir William Tite |
| Stores and services | 33 stores; 5 restaurants and cafes |
| Parking | None |
| Public transit |   Bank-Monument |
| Website | theroyalexchange |
The Royal Exchange in London was founded in the 16th century by the merchantSir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of hisfactorRichard Clough to act as a centre ofcommerce for theCity of London.[1] The site was provided by theCity of London Corporation and theWorshipful Company of Mercers, who still jointly own the freehold. The original foundation was ceremonially opened byQueen Elizabeth I who granted it its "royal" title. The currentneoclassical building has atrapezoidal floor plan and is flanked byCornhill andThreadneedle Street, which converge atBank junction in the heart of the city. It lies in theWard ofCornhill.
The exchange building has twice been destroyed by fire and subsequently rebuilt. The present building was designed bySir William Tite in the 1840s. The site was notably occupied by theLloyd's insurance market for nearly 150 years. Today, the Royal Exchange contains restaurants and luxury shops.
Traditionally, the steps of the Royal Exchange are the place where certainroyal proclamations (such as the dissolution of parliament) are read out by either aherald or acrier. Following the death or abdication of a monarch and the confirmation of the next monarch's accession to the throne by theAccession Council, the Royal Exchange Building is one of the locations where a herald proclaims the new monarch's reign to the public.
Richard Clough initially suggested building the exchange in 1562, and its original design was inspired by theAntwerp bourse, the world's first purpose-builtbourse, with which Thomas Gresham, the representative of the English crown in Antwerp, was familiar, and on which the designs of the bourses ofAmsterdam (1611)[2] andRotterdam would also be based.[3]
It was Britain's first specialistcommercial building, and Clough oversaw the importing of some of the materials from Antwerp: stone, slate, wainscot and glass, for which he paid thousands of pounds himself.[4][5] The Royal Exchange was officially opened on 23 January 1571 byQueen Elizabeth I, who awarded the building its royal title and a licence to sell alcohol and valuable goods.[6] Only the exchange of goods took place until the 17th century.Stockbrokers were not allowed into the Royal Exchange because of their rude manners, hence they had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, such asJonathan's Coffee-House. Gresham's original building was destroyed in theGreat Fire of London in 1666.[7]
Take a view of the Royal Exchange in London, a place more venerable than many courts of justice, where the representatives of all nations meet for the benefit of mankind. There the Jew, the Mahometan [Muslim], and the Christian transact together, as though they all professed the same religion, and give the name of infidel to none but bankrupts. There the Presbyterian confides in the Anabaptist, and the Churchman depends on the Quaker's word.
— Voltaire's observation of the Royal Exchange inLetters on the English (1733).[8]
A second complex was built on the site, designed by Edward Jarman and opened in 1669. It featured a tall wooden tower over the south entrance in Corn Hill; this eventually fell into disrepair and, in 1821, was replaced by a new stone tower andcupola designed byGeorge Smith. The second Exchange was also burned down on 10 January 1838 in a fire caused by an overheated stove; the blaze was visible fromWindsor, 24 miles (39 km) away.[9] It had been used by theLloyd's insurance market, which was forced to move temporarily to South Sea House following the 1838 fire.[10]
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The third Royal Exchange building, which still stands today, was designed bySir William Tite who won the commission through a competition in 1839-40 at the expense ofC. R. Cockerell.[11] Tite's design adheres to the original layout–consisting of a four-sided structure surrounding a central courtyard where merchants and tradesmen could do business. The internal works, designed byEdward I'Anson, made use ofconcrete—an early example of this modern construction method.[12] It features pediment sculptures byRichard Westmacott (the younger), and ornamental cast ironwork byHenry Grissell's Regent's Canal Ironworks. It was opened byQueen Victoria on 28 October 1844,[13] though trading did not commence until 1 January 1845.[14]
Paul Julius Reuter established theReuters news agency atNo. 1, Royal Exchange Buildings (opposite and to the east of the Royal Exchange) in 1851. It later moved toFleet Street.[15]
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The western end of the building consists of aportico of eightCorinthian columns topped by apediment containing atympanum withrelief sculpture byRichard Westmacott (the younger) of seventeen figures representing London merchants and foreign traders. The centralallegorical figure represents Commerce, above an inscription chosen byAlbert, Prince Consort fromPsalm 24: "The Earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof".[9] The Latin inscription on thefrieze states:
Anno XIII. Elizabethae R. Conditvm; Anno VIII. Victoriae R. Restavratvm.[9]
or "founded in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth, and restored in the eighth of Queen Victoria".[16]
Two statues stand inniches in the central courtyard.Charles II (a copy of 1792 byJohn Spiller afterGrinling Gibbons' statue in the centre of the 17th century courtyard) andQueenElizabeth I byMusgrave Watson, 1844. The Charles II statue survived the fire of 1838 that destroyed the previous Exchange. The Elizabeth I statue was commissioned as she was the monarch who had conferred the status "Royal" on the Exchange.[17][18][19]
In front of the portico of the Royal Exchange is a statue ofArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, the last work of SirFrancis Leggatt Chantrey. The bronze used to cast it was donated by the government and sourced from Frenchcannons captured during theNapoleonic Wars. It was unveiled on 18 June 1844, the anniversary of theBattle of Waterloo, in the presence ofthe King of Saxony.[9]
Between the Wellington statue and the exchange steps is theLondon Troops Memorial commemorating the dead of military units associated with the City andCounty of London during theFirst World War. Designed by SirAston Webb, the monument is flanked by two bronze statues of soldiers and surmounted by a lion, all sculpted byAlfred Drury. It was unveiled on 12 November 1920 in the presence of theDuke of York, later KingGeorge VI.[20]
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The golden GreshamGrasshopper is the Royal Exchange'sweathervane and was thecrest of the founder, SirThomas Gresham. According to legend, a grasshopper's chirps once led to the discovery of a foundling, who became the first of the house of Gresham and the ancestor of Sir Thomas Gresham. The Grasshopper weathervane was rescued from the 1838 fire and is 11 feet (3.4 m) long. It stands 177 feet (54 m) above street level on aclock tower which has a clock byEdward John Dent.[9] A similar grasshopper weathervane on theFaneuil Hall inBoston,Massachusetts was made byShem Drowne in 1742 and was inspired by the London example.[21]
The tower contains a chime of 15 bells all cast byCharles and George Mears of Whitechapel in 1844, with a mechanism that can playGod Save the King,The Roast Beef of Old England,Rule Britannia! andPsalm 104.[9] The combined weight of them is 131 long cwt 1 qr (14,700 lb or 6,670 kg). The original plan was to have the same number of bells as before the fire (nine) but was increased to 15 at the suggestion ofEdward John Dent, who, having visited Brussels to obtain information as to the arrangement of carillons, was convinced to recommend that the number so that a greater range of tunes could be played. Professor Taylor advised the committee to increase them to fifteen, which would then allow of playing in three octaves. The largest is also the hour bell, and bears the following inscription "Cast for the Royal Exchange in the year of grace 1844; Richard Lambert Jones, Chairman of the Gresham College Committee; Daniel Watney, Master of the Mercers' Company; Ebenezer Trottman, Assistant; William Tite, Architect; Charles and George Mears, founders." The others only bear the words "Royal Exchange, 1844."[22]
From 1892, twenty-four scenes from London's history were painted on the first-floor walls by artists includingSir Frederic Leighton,Sir Frank Brangwyn andStanhope Forbes. Themurals run as a sequence:
With the outbreak of theSecond World War, trading at the Royal Exchange virtually ended. At war's end, the building had survivedthe Blitz, albeit with some near misses.
In 1982 the Royal Exchange was in disrepair – in particular, the glass roof was in danger of collapse. The newly formedLondon International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) was the main tenant, using the courtyard for the trading floor, all done without touching the framework of the original building. LIFFE moved to Cannon Bridge in 1991.[23][24]
In 2001 the Royal Exchange (interiors and courtyard) was once again extensively remodelled, this time by architectsAukett Fitzroy Robinson. The works involved the restoration of the fabric of the building, a two floor office extension and replacement of the roof above the courtyard.[25]
In a lane by the eastern entrance to the Royal Exchange, stand two statues: one ofPaul Julius Reuter who foundedhis news agency there, and one ofGeorge Peabody who founded thePeabody Trust and a business which becameJ.P. Morgan & Co.[26]
In 2013 a lease of Royal Exchange was sold byAnglo Irish Bank toOxford Properties, a Canadian property company. It had been announced that the site would be sold with a 104-year lease.[27] Oxford Properties Group, a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, bought the retail centre for a reported £86.5 million.[28] In October 2022, Ardent UK acquired the retail element of the Exchange from Oxford Properties Group for around £50 million.[29]
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