The Royal Exchange is a building in central London, built to house the London Stock Exchange, which now operates elsewhere. Today, the Royal Exchange contains restaurants and luxury shops.

It was founded in the 16th century by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of his factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London.[1] The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, who still jointly own the freehold. The original foundation was ceremonially opened by Queen Elizabeth I who granted it its "royal" title. Rebuilt in the 1840s, the current neoclassical building has a trapezoidal floor plan and is flanked by Cornhill and Threadneedle Street, which converge at Bank junction in the heart of the city. It lies in the Ward of Cornhill.

The exchange building has twice been destroyed by fire and subsequently rebuilt. The present building was designed by Sir William Tite. The site also housed the Lloyd's insurance market for nearly 150 years.

Traditionally, the steps of the Royal Exchange are the place where certain royal proclamations (such as the dissolution of parliament) are read out by either a herald or a crier. Following the death or abdication of a monarch and the confirmation of the next monarch's accession to the throne by the Accession Council, the Royal Exchange Building is one of the locations where a herald proclaims the new monarch's reign to the public.

History

Richard Clough initially suggested building the exchange in 1562, and its original design was inspired by the Stock Exchange in Antwerp, the world's first purpose-built bourse, with which Thomas Gresham, the representative of the English crown in Antwerp, was familiar, and on which the designs of the bourses of Amsterdam (1611)[2] and Rotterdam would also be based.[3]

It was Britain's first specialist commercial 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 by Queen 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 as Jonathan's Coffee-House. Gresham's original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[7]

Modern use

The courtyard of the Royal Exchange in 2026

In 1982 the Royal Exchange was in disrepair – in particular, the glass roof was in danger of collapse. The newly formed London 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 architects Aukett 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 of Paul Julius Reuter who founded his news agency there, and one of George Peabody who founded the Peabody Trust and a business which became J.P. Morgan & Co.[26]

In 2013 a lease of Royal Exchange was sold by Anglo Irish Bank to Oxford 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]

See also

References

  1. ↑ grisham.weebly.com; accessed 31 July 2016
  2. ↑ "The exchange of Hendrick de Keyser". Exchange History NL.
  3. ↑ Ormrod, David (2003). The Rise of Commercial Empires: England and the Netherlands in the Age of Mercantilism, 1650-1770. Cambridge University Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0521819268.
  4. ↑ Burgon, John William (1839). The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham. London: Robert Jennings.
  5. ↑ tudorplace.com; accessed 31 July 2016.
  6. ↑ Mason, 1920, p. 11 ff.
  7. ↑ Mason, 1920, p. 33 ff
  8. ↑ Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de. (1909–1914) [1734]. "Letter VI – On the Presbyterians. Letters on the English". www.bartleby.com. The Harvard Classics. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thornbury, Walter (1878). "The Royal Exchange". Old and New London: Volume I. London: Cassell, Petter, & Galpin. pp. 494–513. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  10. ↑ Townsend, George Henry (1862). The Manual of Dates: a Dictionary of Reference to All the Most Important Events in the History of Mankind to be Found in Authentic Records. Routledge, Warne, & Routledge. p. 496.
  11. ↑ Wells, M. J. "Relations and Reflections to the Eye and Understanding: Architectural Models and the Rebuilding of the Royal Exchange, 1839–44". Architectural History. 60: 219–241.
  12. ↑ Collins, Peter (April 2004). Concrete: the vision of a new architecture. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-7735-2564-1. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
  13. ↑ See this opening described in Queen Victoria's letter to Leopold I on the next day.
  14. ↑ Paroissien, David (2000). The Companion to Great Expectations. Greenwood Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0313318009.
  15. ↑ "Company history". Thomson Reuters. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  16. ↑ "Victorian London – Buildings, Monuments and Museums – Royal Exchange". Victorian London (The Dictionary of Victorian London). Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  17. ↑ Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. The Buildings of England.
  18. ↑ Philip Ward-Jackson. The Public Sculpture of the City of London 2003.
  19. ↑ Henry Moore Foundation. "Spiller, John". A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660–1851 2009.
  20. ↑ "MEN OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF LONDON". www.iwm.org.uk. Imperial War Museum. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  21. ↑ Dean, John Ward, ed. (1895). The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 49. Boston MA: New England Historic Genealogy Society. p. 24.
  22. ↑ "Bells and Chimes of the Royal Exchange". london.lovesguide.com. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  23. ↑ "Royal Exchange - Hidden London". hidden-london.com.
  24. ↑ "London's Royal Exchange | History.co.uk". Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  25. ↑ "Royal Exchange". Aukett Swanke. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  26. ↑ Ward-Jackson, Philip (2003). Public Sculpture of the City of London. Public Sculpture of Britain. Vol. 7. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 338–341. ISBN 0853239673.
  27. ↑ Shah, Oliver (10 November 2013). "Square Mile landmark to fetch £80m". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013.
  28. ↑ Waldie, Paul (20 December 2013). "Oxford Properties buys landmark London shopping centre". The Globe and Mail.
  29. ↑ "Ardent UK and Oxford Properties complete Royal Exchange deal". React News. Retrieved 28 October 2022.

Bibliography

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Exchange,_London