OCR Text |
Show OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET : TO DWELL IN MODERNIZED HOME ( . BANK OF ENGLAND IN PRESENT AND NEW GUISE ' . j t . I Huge Blank Walls Will Be Kept, but Room I Will Be Gained by r Building ; Up the Center to ; an Extra . I flight of Five Stories i ' pV---J?rNsr J Q ENLARGED BANK upu. fir ?4PF2Ehaill 'Dili Interior of the Bank Will Retain . Most of Its Familiar Features. Including the Old Garden, but the Historic Rotunda Will Have to Go Sperlnt Cormiioi'-lriicc. I-o.vDov, KalunUy. THK Old J.dy of Threadnerdla Htreet In trtllnj new frock. She In doing to bloom out In colors brilliant and uY. 8lie l o-Inff o-Inff to sppcar siung hrr ;igeU r.nd shabby companions with the raiment and mien of matronly U'auty which all had thought aha would never rata ra-ta in. Tha old' Bank of Kngland. the old lady wlio haa watrhnl over the (olden rains of prosperous lirltlsh merchants and the gradually dwindling wealth of tha landed gentry, Is going to bs dressed up Ilka aome grail American beauty. Her lovely old Urerlan fare alon la not going to ba altered ona lota. Those amooth and settled lines and that bland, dignified expreealon Is still going to smile down upon Threadneetlla street. Hut she Is going to become big and stately. For a number of years previous ts the war It was obvious to all who realised the Importunes of the func tion w!iU h the bnnk hd to perform that her equipment was antiquated The work hat had to bs farmed out all over Ijondon. to as far back ai fcVplember, 1917, It was decided by I hi !ondon County Council that the olti bank nliould 1 enlsrrced, but that tn dignity and. beauty of the old lad) should be retained by every meani po.il.e. Mr. Herbert Haker and Mr, K. W. Croup, two of the foretnoMt lirltlsh architects, have been given cli.irge of the delicate Job and shortly will atart upon It. To retain the architectural style ol tlt present building In his enUrse ment. Mr. Baker has taken the pluns of 8lr John Hoanc. who brought tha old lady to her present state of plain matronly comeliness. Those huge blank walls which form Hie quiet countenance of the bank he Intends to continue all around tho building, and Mr. llaker Is going to develop the idea of obtaining seclusion, seclu-sion, safety and that solitude whicn enables the many cares of the old figure fig-ure to be carried on with ease and efficiency by lighting from ths top, whk-h was also Sir John Soanc'a Idc-t. i However, the rotunda must go. It . was the outstanding feature of the t Iwtnk years ago. It was to the rotunda 1 that merchants and gentry from all ' over the kingdom used to nock on the ' burning of dividend warrants. From 1 sll corners of the United Kingdom, from the broad acres of Yorkshire and 1 the boglands of llntolnshlre. hun ' dreds, and as time went on thousands, : traveled to the old rotunda to get their 1 money. Home on foot, some on horseback horse-back and others, .choice morsels for the highwaymen, ambled along in their heavy, reeling old coaches. Majestic beauty Is going to be added 1 to the present charms of the bank by 1 building up five stories of mujcnlfloent stonework In the center of the present pres-ent structure. ' The Inside of the bank is likewise to retain throughout these changes nil those features contributed by her successive suc-cessive designers George Sampson, Kir Robert Taylor. Sir John Soane. Prof. Coekerrll, The old courtyard garden, wherein grows the wonderful old lime tree, an old as the bank Itself, which is very nearly 200 years, will be undisturbed. In one of those wontcrful halls which Boune built there la a clrcls of glittering Sheffield steel swords, weapons wea-pons with which tho original volunteer volun-teer corps of the Bank of Kngland Intended to set upon ths hordes of Napoleon when at the end ,of the eighteenth century ho announced his intention of crossing to Knyland and annihilating her sons. The Bank of Kngland guard is n:t exactly the descendunt of those volunteers vol-unteers who sprang up from everywhere every-where to defend the old bank, although al-though that Is one of the purposes It serves, but It Is the survival of the guurd Instituted at the time of the Lord Gordon riots. Kver since then this qusint old guard has been placed nround the Bank of Kngland. The offlcera of the guard have the right and privilege of Inviting their friends us they come on guard to alp wine with them or even sit down snd havs a meal, after the manner of Englishmen. English-men. The guard will continue to watch over the new and embellished Bank of England. |