Summary
Livery hall with commercial office space. 1876-1880 by William Willmer Pocock: elevations altered and interior wholly rebuilt behind the façade 1955-1960 by Whinney, Son & Austen Hall. Interior of the Banqueting Hall by Clifford Wearden.
Reasons for Designation
Carpenters’ Hall, built between 1876 and 1880 by William Willmer Pocock and rebuilt after Second World War bomb damage between 1955 and 1960 by Whinney, Son & Austen Hall, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for the sensitively restored and remodelled high-quality late-C19 classical elevations and subtle design of the new bridge over Throgmorton Avenue;
* for the strikingly bold Banqueting hall designed by Clifford Wearden with its cedar coffered ceiling, teak centrepiece by Sir Charles Wheeler and high-quality stained glass by Alfred Fisher;
* for its other well-designed principal interior spaces, notably the main staircase, and for the high-quality craftsmanship and materials of the fittings and finishes, particularly in the variety of woods used reflecting the traditions of the Carpenters' Company.
Historical interest:
* for the history of the Carpenters' Company, a prominent City livery company of medieval origin which has occupied the site since 1429;
* for the incorporation of a number of decorative elements from the Company’s original hall;
* as an example of a livery hall rebuilt after the destruction of the Second World War retaining original fabric;
* as a major work by William Pocock, who had served as Master of the Carpenters’ Company in 1883, and as a late work by Herbert Austen Hall.
Group value:
* with another livery hall, Drapers’ Hall (Listed at Grade II) at the southern end of Throgmorton Avenue and the Grade II listed 25 Finsbury Circus (London Wall Buildings) on the opposite side of London Wall.
History
The medieval London trade guild of the Carpenters goes back to at least 1271 when a Master Carpenter is recorded in the City of London’s records. The Carpenters’ Company was granted a coat of arms in 1466, and a royal charter in 1477. In 1515 it was ranked 26th in precedence among the City Livery Companies then existing.
The earliest of the three successive Carpenters’ Halls was built on land that was originally part of the estate of the Hospital of St Mary without Bishopsgate and had been leased by three members of the guild in 1429 with a hall built shortly after. The original site was slightly to the west of the present hall and was acquired in January 1519 by Thomas Smart, Master of the Company, who left it to the Company in his will. The hall was heavily altered in the C16, C17 and C18 and after a fire at the nearby Wool Merchants Hall in 1849 severely weakened the building, the Company, along with the Drapers’ Company, decided in the 1870s to redevelop their sites. Along with the demolition of the original Carpenters' Hall, this would include a new hall for each company and the laying out of a new private road, later called Throgmorton Avenue, running south from London Wall.
Built between 1876 and 1880 to designs by William Willmer Pocock at a cost of around £50,000, the second Carpenters’ Hall was of two storeys, designed in a rich Italianate manner with the principal entrance on the west side, off Throgmorton Avenue. It included a banqueting hall 23m long, one of the largest in the City of London. However, on the night of 10-11 May 1941 the building was burnt out during a German air raid leaving only the outer walls standing.
Post-war reconstruction of the hall, one of the twenty livery halls which were rebuilt after 1945, included the total rebuilding of the interior, the heightening of the building, and the addition of a bridge extension over Throgmorton Avenue containing the western end of the Banqueting Hall. The surviving external elevations were retained as far as possible as they were considered of architectural interest. The widening of London Wall led to the formation of an arcade along the street, at the expense of the ground floor of the Hall: the lost space this entailed enabled the Company to gain permission for the bridge. The new hall was designed by the practice of Whinney, Son and Herbert Austen Hall and built by Dove Brothers of Islington. The interior of the Banqueting Hall was designed by the architect, Clifford Wearden (1920-1999) who had worked with Sir Basil Spence from 1949-1954.
Drawings date from August 1955 onward and construction started in 1956. The building was formally opened on 4 May 1960 by Sir Edmund Stockdale, Lord Mayor of London. The Company wished to use the rebuilding opportunity to ‘display the latest technics of the trade and also give a lead to future development in design’ (Rebuilding Committee, 27 February 1956). It also sought to strengthen its finances by incorporating lettable office space on newly created upper floors, a common tactic of the post-war period when rebuilding livery halls (such as the Clothworkers’, also designed by Austen Hall).
The first-floor Reception Landing was remodelled in 1995 and the office spaces were the subject of various refurbishment schemes in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
William Willmer Pocock (1813-1899) was the son of an architect and ran a practice which specialised in the design of Methodist churches; his principal building was the Metropolitan Tabernacle at Elephant and Castle (1861), in its day the largest Nonconformist place of worship in Britain (Listed at Grade II). Pocock served as Master of the Carpenters’ Company in 1883.
Herbert Austen Hall (1881-1968) worked for a number of firms before setting up in partnership in 1905 with Septimus Warwick, with whom he worked on several large municipal buildings including Lambeth Town Hall (1905-8), Holborn Town Hall, LB Camden (1906-1908) and the Shire Hall, Reading (1904-1911), all Listed at Grade II. His other major works include the New River Head Building, LB Islington (1915-1920 - Listed at Grade II*) and the east wing of the Peter Robinson store on Oxford Street, LB Westminster (1924, with TP and ES Clarkson - Listed at Grade II). He also oversaw the restoration of Fishmongers’ Hall in 1954, and the rebuilding of Clothworkers’ Hall in 1954-58.
Details
Livery hall with commercial office space. 1876-1880 by William Willmer Pocock;
elevations altered and interior wholly rebuilt behind the façade 1955-1960 by Whinney, Son & Austen Hall. Interior of the Banqueting Hall by Clifford Wearden.
MATERIALS: frontage and return elevations to Throgmorton Avenue of Portland stone. Steel-framed structure behind with concrete slabs. Upper floors, rear walls and lift engine house faced in pale yellow brick. Cast iron gates to Throgmorton Avenue. Metal-framed windows. Lead roof.
PLAN: the building, of four floors with basement, is approximately square. The hall faces north onto London Wall, with a five-bay arcade at ground level leading to the normal day (formerly staff) entrance. The return elevation, also of five bays, faces west onto Throgmorton Avenue: the central three bays are occupied by a first-floor bridge running over this gated street, attaching the hall to the eastern flank of 2 Throgmorton Avenue. Under the bridge at ground floor is the ceremonial entrance. Inside, the principal and ancillary (or tenants’) stairs are located on the east side of the building. The ground floor contains the central entrance hall, the Court Room to the south-west, cloakroom, porter's room (now a display space) and WCs.
The first floor is dominated by the Banqueting Hall which runs east-west and extends into the bridge with a gallery at the east end. To its north, looking onto London Wall, is the Reception Room with the Master’s Study in the north-east corner. The Reception Room is linked to the principal staircase by the Reception Landing: this is a large room with two double doors leading into the Banqueting Hall. A first-floor mezzanine on the south side of the building contains the Court Luncheon Room. The second floor* is largely occupied by offices* and meeting rooms*, with the Master’s quarters* located in the north-east corner. Another mezzanine floor on the north side of the building, at second floor level*, contains the Court Drawing Room* at the western end, a pair of bedrooms*, and a records store* at the east end accessed from the tenant's staircase*. The third floor* contains leased office space* while the fourth floor* has more offices* along the north front and the Beadle’s flat* to the rear. There is a tank room* and a lift motor room* on the roof.
EXTERIOR: the north front facing London Wall is of five bays, three storeys high, with a fourth storey largely concealed behind the parapet. The ground-floor now comprises an open arcade, with arches over each opening set between the tall piers which act as pedestals for the giant Corinthian columns above. The keystone to each arch is decorated with the head of a celebrated (mainly British) architect, identified underneath and range from William of Wykeham to Sir Charles Barry; these were carved by Charles Bacon in 1875 but some were re-cut by John Skeaping ARA in the rebuilding. The sides and voussoirs of each arch are of channelled rustication; the blocks to the end piers are vermiculated. The first and second floors are divided by engaged Corinthian columns. The first-floor windows are set within aedicules, with alternating triangular and segmental pediments carried on engaged Ionic columns; the aprons under each window are absent to make the windows longer, but the cornices are present, running across the glazing. The second-floor windows are rectangular, set within plain surrounds: these are 1950s insertions, part of the alterations required in the heightening of the building. The balustrade stands on a full entablature; the urns which stood on the pedestals prior to the Blitz were not reinstated. Behind, not visible from the street, is a brick-faced rooftop floor.
The western elevation is of similar design, although largely blocked by the bridge. The formal entrance at ground level below the bridge is flanked by inscription panels: that on the left repeats the 1876 foundation stone inscription, while that on the right relates to the foundation stone laid on 23 July 1956, and gives the name of the Master, Wardens, Clerk, architect and builder. The double doors are reached via steps: each is coffered, with circular bosses of different native woods carved by James Woodford RA (1893-1976). The lintel above is inscribed SURREXIT DOMUS / MCMLIX (‘The house has arisen / 1959’). Ground floor windows are set within recessed surrounds.
Adjoining the main building at the northern end of Throgmorton Avenue is a wrought iron screen with strapwork tops and double central gates bearing the Company arms. Two side gates bear gilded addorsed C’s within the strapwork. Lanterns suspended from scrolled brackets rise from the posts either side of the main gates. The bridge is of Portland stone to match the surrounding buildings, but is of much plainer design, with horizontal bands at floor level and a simple coping above. The tripartite windows to either side have tall metal-framed glazing, set within a plain sunken surround. The soffit of the bridge, over the approach to the formal entrance, is coffered.
INTERIOR: the ground-floor entrance hall is reached from inner double-doors, which have an etched glass transom bearing the Company arms, via a short flight of steps from a lobby with marble-floor tiles. The entrance hall is panelled in oak to curtain-rail height. Above the panelling are a sequence of painted roundels by Jean Clark (1902-1999) of around 1960 showing scenes from the Company’s history. Three (of originally four) recovered panels with wall paintings of 1562, showing biblical themes, from the original hall are set in frames incorporated in the panelling on the south side of the entrance hall. The Court Room is entered via a pair of double doors at its eastern end. It is lined in burr oak and burr walnut panelling, with doors, cornice and dado of Australian walnut. Three Elizabethan carved panels (two dated 1579) from a former parlour are incorporated into the east end, displaying the Company’s arms within a strapwork cartouche (with trophies of carpenters’ tools), flanked by rectangular tablets listing the names of the Master (Thomas Harper) and the Wardens.
On the north side of the entrance hall are a cloakroom with the original coat racks and counter, and the original porter’s room, now a display space with later display cases. Incorporated in the panelling facing the cloakroom is a Coade stone plaque of 1791 bearing the Company Coat of Arms in relief. An aedicular war memorial of carved oak (designed by Sir Banister Fletcher) with an open pediment containing a cartouche with the Company arms, is located on the south wall of the Entrance Hall, near the stair .
The main staircase at the east end of the entrance hall, rising to the first floor, is set in an oval compartment. It is lined in teak, with steps of oak and a handrail, carried on a scrolled wrought iron balustrade, of mahogany. At the foot of the stair is a newel post with a crystal ball finial. On the first quarter-landing is a gilded alcove containing a bronze statuette of 1927 by Charles Hartwell (1873-1951), ‘The Awakening’. The south-facing half-landing window contains stained-glass of 1970 by Lawrence Lee (1909-2011), showing the arms of Albert Evan Bernays, Master in 1941-42, with decorative flourishes of oak leaves; above is a neo-Georgian coffered ceiling with skylight.
The principal room on the first floor is the Banqueting Hall, which runs east to west into the bridge. Designed by Clifford Wearden, the room is lined in alternating plain panels of elm and linen-fold panel effect strips of mahogany, beneath a blue-painted frieze and ceiling. The west end is the high end, and more elaborate. The recessed centrepiece is a sculpture in teak by Sir Charles Wheeler (1892-1974) entitled ‘The Tree of Life’: this was installed in 1966 and is set against a decorative marquetry panel depicting a tree trunk, leaves and acorns designed by the sculptor. Below is a built-in tabernacle (also by Wheeler) for displaying plate, decorated below with five relief panels depicting carpenters’ tools. The coffered suspended ceiling comprises an openwork cedar construction, designed around a pattern of faceted octagons, and open squares which reveal the true ceiling above. The west end is lit with two tripartite windows on either side which mark the centre of the bridge: these now contain stained glass of 1988 and 1991 by Alfred Fisher (b 1944) showing the Company arms within a modern abstract setting; the plastered splayed reveals are enriched with incised carving by James Woodford RA (1893-1976), showing a variety of historical and ceremonial scenes, dated 1959. The east end comprises a minstrels’ gallery over the main entrance doors, faced in fluted mahogany and with projecting balconies along its front. These have brass handrails. The room has a floor of teak from Zimbabwe.
The Reception Room, remodelled in 1995, runs parallel to the Banqueting Hall along the north front. It is neo-Georgian in character, with fielded mahogany panelling to dado level and coffered plasterwork to the edge of the ceiling above a cornice and frieze. At the north end is an armorial stained-glass window, bearing the arms of different Masters, by Jean Clark. It is contiguous with the Reception Landing, separated by a screen of paired fluted Doric columns of painted plaster added in 1995. The Reception Landing has a double entrance to the Banqueting Hall with Classical surrounds with carved foliate transoms and another armorial stained-glass window onto the light-well. In the north-east corner of the floor is the former Master’s room with oak fitted bookshelves and dado panelling.
The Court Luncheon Room on the first-floor mezzanine level to the south of the Banqueting Hall, above the serving area and artistes’ room, is neo-Georgian in style with a coved ceiling of modern date, light box along the north wall, chandelier, mahogany dado-rail and skirting, and pair of Tuscan columns to a bay at the east end.
Above first-floor level, the concrete south-eastern staircase has hardwood treads, metal balusters, wide timber balustrade panels and mahogany handrails. The rooms above the first floor comprise either administrative areas*, accommodation* or spaces designed to be let out for commercial office use*. These are generally plain with no features of note and are not of special interest. The tenants’ staircase* in the north-east of the building has terrazzo steps and a plain metal balustrade and is not of special interest. The basement contains a kitchen*, strong-room* and wine cellar*. These are not of special interest.
* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.
