Carpenters' Hall Tour highlights

Rooms on view today are the formal function rooms: the Entrance, Court Room, Reception and Banqueting Hall, designed to showcase the craft of carpentry.
In the Entrance Hall are three rare Tudor wall paintings (probably 1562) of Biblical scenes representing carpentry which survive from the first Hall, as does a 1791 Coade stone panel of the Company’s coat of arms, also saved from demolition.
The Court Room contains three carved oak panels of 1579 from the first Hall’s parlour and a huge mahogany 18th century Master’s Chair, the largest owned by a City livery company. Paintings include a depiction of the Lord Mayor’s Show by Frank Brangwyn. The Reception Room has a high relief wood-carving in natural lime wood by Shane Raven on display, alongside 'Ves-el' (2014), an American white oak sculpture by Gareth Neal in collaboration with Zaha Hadid and 'Continuity Rings' (2023) by Nathanael Griffiths made of 2,048 small joined segments of French Oak. Paintings include ‘The Banqueting Hall, June 1927’ by John Lavery, and HM Queen Juliana by Sierk Schroder.
The Banqueting Hall was designed by Clifford Wearden, with full height panelled walls in crown elm and utile mahogany, octagonal cedar ceiling panels designed to 'float' beneath the dark blue upper ceiling and a teak strip floor. The teak Tree of Life was carved by Charles Wheeler RA. On display are the Company's four 'crowns' or garlands, including the oldest surviving Master's crown of any livery company (1561).

The Architects

Herbert Austin Hall (1872-1968) was a past President of the Architectural Association. He is associated with the post-war design of several livery halls and the interior and north part of Fishmongers' Hall and an extension to Drapers' Hall.
Clifford Wearden (1920-1999) worked with Sir Basil Spence before establishing his own practice, Clifford Wearden & Associates.

Woods used in the Hall

Include the Entrance Hall doors of teak inset with eight panels ornamented with the leaves, fruit and flowers of the trees from which they were carved: sycamore, holly, pine, yew, cedar, oak, walnut and elm. The wall panelling is of oak and figured teak.

In the Court Room there is burr oak and burr walnut panelling and an Australian walnut door.

The Staircase is part panelled in figured teak, with steps in oak and a mahogany handrail and the Reception Room is part panelled with utile mahogany.

The Banqueting Hall contains panelled walls in crown elm and utile mahogany, an octagonal pattern cedar ceiling and a hardwood strip floor of Zimbabwean teak. The main doors of teak have infills of bubinga and macassar ebony.

History of the Hall

“The rebuilding of Carpenters' Hall creates a unique opportunity for the demonstration of the craft that the Company has represented in its long history, and it is, therefore, desirable that the new Hall should display the latest techniques of the trade and also give a lead to future development in design.” This guiding principle was recorded by the Carpenters' Hall Re-building Committee on 27 February 1956. Carpenters' Hall was wrecked by fire during an air raid on the night of 10 May 1941 and the Company appointed the architect Herbert Austen Hall of Whinney, Son & Austen Hall assisted by Clifford Wearden, and builders Dove Brothers of Islington to rebuild the Hall. A steel framed structure was built within the surviving external walls, allowing two extra internal floors to be incorporated. With no desire to recreate the second Hall, the Company commissioned a modern, functional building to showcase the craft of carpentry. The City of London wanted to widen London Wall, and so the pavement was brought inside the old Hall walls as an arcade and the loss of space offset by a bridge built over Throgmorton Avenue to carry part of the Banqueting Hall. Two new office storeys were constructed at the top of the building. Building began in 1956 and the third Hall formally opened in May 1960.