Leadenhall Street

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Leadenhall Street (2008)

Leadenhall Street is a street in the City of London . In the 18th century her name was often used synonymously for the East India Company , which had its headquarters in the street - the East India House . Today there is the headquarters of Lloyd's of London .

The road runs in an east-west direction between Cornhill and Aldgate . It is part of the southern of the two traditional east-west corridors in the City of London. In addition to Lloyd's, the London Metal Exchange is also on the road, as are the branches of numerous global insurance companies. The architecture is determined by the Lloyd's Building and the Commercial Union Tower . Numerous office buildings from 1970 onwards line the street.

The name of the street goes back to Leadenhall ("lead hall"), an English mansion with a leaded roof, which stood on the site of today's Leadenhall Market .

history

East India House (1828)

The street was already inhabited in Roman times. The Leadenhall Market contains the remains of a Roman basilica. There are various archaeological sites of Roman townhouses, particularly near St. Mary Ax . A particularly impressive, colorful mosaic of over 10 m² is now on display in the British Museum . A fragment of the medieval Holy Trinity Priory was discovered near St. Katharine Cree in 1984 and is now integrated into the building at 76 Leadenhall Street, the Swiss Re House . Leadenhall Street was not an independent street until the Middle Ages. Its western part belonged to Cornhill, its eastern part to Aldgate.

The Great Fire of London in 1666 did not get to the east end of Leadenhall Street, so there are still churches from the time before the fire.

Until the 1870s, Leadenhall Street had a high proportion of typical old-fashioned London retail stores, almost all of which fell victim to the new office buildings of the late 19th century, particularly noticeable was the building of the New Zealand Chambers , which had since been demolished . Various 19th century houses have been demolished since the 1970s and have been replaced by modern office buildings. The bomb attack on the nearby Baltic Exchange damaged numerous buildings on Leadenhall Street. Among other things, the Commercial Union Tower lost its facade cladding and the Church of St. Katharine Cree lost its impressive rose window .

building

From times before the fire, the churches of St. Katharine Cree (built 1628–1631) and St. Andrew Undershaft (built 1532) on Leadenhall Street are still preserved.

Other buildings on the street are No. 1, Sun Alliance (built 1983-1989), No. 7-10 Rafidain Bank (built 1924-1927), No. 11 NatWest (built 1912), No. 139-144 the Midland Bank (built 1929–1931), the Indosuez House (built 1963–1969) and the Commercial Union Tower . Further to the east are No. 34–35, Winterthur House (built 1987–1992), and No. 114–116, Lloyds Bank , the only surviving Victorian building on the street. Also from the 1930s is No. 107–112, Bankside House from 1931.

At the east end are the Institute of London Underwriters (No. 42–49, built 1972–1978) and Furness House (No. 52–56, built 1919–1921), which is home to the London Metal Exchange . 122 Leadenhall Street , another - 222 meters high - skyscraper in the City of London, has been considered one of the tallest skyscrapers in London since its completion.

The Ship and Turtle eatery claims to date back to 1377. According to legend, until 1835 it was almost exclusively run by widows. The pub, which particularly advertises the quality of its turtle soup , is the hangout of various Masonic boxes and hosts various dinners and events for the London Livery Companies . Thomas Fenwick's conspirators met in the King's Head Tavern , which was demolished in 1867 .

Remarks

  1. ^ A b c Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner: London 1, The city of London. Penguin, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-300-09624-8 , p. 530
  2. ^ A b c Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner: London 1, The city of London. Penguin, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-300-09624-8 , p. 529
  3. ↑ a b c d e Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner: London 1, The city of London. Penguin, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-300-09624-8 , p. 531
  4. ^ A b Henry Benjamin Wheatley, Peter Cunningham: London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions. Cambridge University Press, 2011, ISBN 1108028071 , p. 377
  5. ^ Henry C. Shelley: Inns and Taverns of Old London. BoD - Books on Demand, 2011, ISBN 3864030250 , p. 26

literature

  • Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner: London 1, The city of London. Penguin, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-300-09624-8 , pp. 529-532

Web links

Commons : Leadenhall Street  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 48 ″  N , 0 ° 4 ′ 51 ″  W.