Bank Of England

Bank Of England

    

Established in 1694 the Bank of England, it is the second oldest central bank in operation today. The Bank of England is the world's 8th oldest bank. It was established to act as the English Government's banker and is still one of the bankers for the Government of the United Kingdom.In 1998, it became an independent public organization, wholly owned by the Treasury Solicitor. England's crushing defeat by France, the dominant naval power, in naval engagements culminating in the 1690 Battle of Beachy Head became the catalyst for England's rebuilding itself as a global power. The Bank's original home was in Walbrook, a street in the City of London, where during reconstruction in 1954 archaeologists found the remains of a Roman temple of Mithras. Sir Herbert Baker's rebuilding of the Bank, demolishing most of Sir John Soane's earlier building, was described by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as "The greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the twentieth century". Sir John Soane was an English architect who specialised in the Neoclassical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the Royal Academy and an official architect to the Office of Works. Soane would virtually rebuild the entire bank, and vastly extend it. The five main banking halls were based on the same basic layout, starting with the Bank Stock Office of 1791–96, consists of a rectangular room. The Stock Office had a centre with a large lantern light supported by piers and pendentives, then the four corners of the rectangle have low vaulted spaces, and in the centre of each side compartments rising to the height of the arches supporting the central lantern. The room is vaulted in brick and windows are iron framed to ensure the rooms are as fire proof as possible. A growing sign of Soane's success was an invitation to become a member of the Architects' Club that was formed on 20 October 1791. Practically all the leading practitioners in London were members, and it combined a meeting to discuss professional matters.