livery hall
Edward Jarman/John Gorham/Herbert Williams/Sir Thomas G. Jackson, 1860
Throgmorton Street, EC2N 2AN
Livery hall first built in the 1530s, twice destroyed by fire and rebuilt (1666 & 1772). Late 19C facade and opulent Victorian interior.
Bank, Moorgate
Cannon Street, Liverpool Street, Moorgate
21, 26, 76, 242, 388
All four rooms are on the 1st floor which is accessible by a passenger lift.
There will be limited seating in each room.
As the trading activities of the guilds expanded, members required a Hall where they could meet to discuss and co-ordinate business. At first, they used individuals' houses but in the 1420s the Drapers' guild decided to build its own Hall. This first Hall was in St. Swithin's Lane.
The present Hall, situated in Throgmorton Street, was bought from King Henry VIII in 1543 for the sum of 1,800 marks (approximately £1,200). This had been the house of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex and Chief Minister to Henry, but had been forfeited to the King on Cromwell's execution in July 1540.
Destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666, Drapers’ Hall was rebuilt between 1667 and 1671 to designs by Edward Jarman. In 1772, it was again rebuilt after a fire which did considerable damage and, in the 1860s, the frontage was changed and the interior altered by Herbert Williams. It was later altered once more in 1898-9 by Sir Thomas Graham Jackson. In 2021 the Livery Hall was conserved and redecorated.
