Architecture

Buildings where the building is the reason to go: the inside-out, the Art Deco, the concrete, and the ones that make no sense at all until somebody explains them.

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Royal Exchange

The third exchange on the site, with a golden grasshopper on the roof and a courtyard you can walk into.

Victorian & EdwardianYou can go insideFree

From Bank junction, the Bank of England on the left and 22 Bishopsgate behind.

Also in Classic British Shops.

Thomas Gresham built the first one at his own expense and Elizabeth I opened it on 23 January 1571, giving it the royal title and a licence to sell drink; the stone, slate, wainscot and glass came from Antwerp, whose exchange it was modelled on. That building burned in the Great Fire and its replacement burned in 1838. The present one is by Sir William Tite, opened by Queen Victoria in 1844, with a Corinthian portico, a pediment carved by Richard Westmacott the younger and - unusually for the date - concrete in its construction. Lloyd's sat in it for close to a century and a half and Reuters was founded at No. 1. The gilded grasshopper on the weathervane is Gresham's family crest, and it has survived all three buildings. The covered courtyard inside is now shops and a bar, and is free to walk through.

Where
Royal Exchange, Cornhill, EC3V 3LR
Nearest station
Bank · 2 min walk

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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