Royal Exchange (London)

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Royal Exchange (London)

The Royal Exchange in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a geographically small city status in the United Kingdom within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which, along with Westminster, the modern conurbation grew....
was founded in 1565 by Sir Thomas Gresham

Thomas Gresham

File:Thomas Gresham, 1544.jpgSir Thomas Gresham was an English merchant and financier who worked for King Edward VI of England and for Edward's half-sister Queen Elizabeth I of England....
to act as a centre of commerce

Commerce

Commerce is a division of trade or production, costs, and pricing which deals with the Trade of goods and service from production, costs, and pricing to final consumer....
for the city.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Royal Exchange (London)'

Start a new discussion about 'Royal Exchange (London)'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The Royal Exchange in the City of London

City of London

Thomas Gresham

Commerce

Commerce is a division of trade or production, costs, and pricing which deals with the Trade of goods and service from production, costs, and pricing to final consumer....
for the city. The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers

Worshipful Company of Mercers

The Worshipful Company of Mercers is one of the Livery Company of the City of London. It was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1394. Its aim was to act as a trade association for general merchants, and especially for exporters of wool and importers of velvet, silk and other luxurious fabrics ....
, and is roughly triangular, formed by the converging streets of Cornhill and Threadneedle Street

Threadneedle Street

Threadneedle Street is a road in the City of London, leading from an intersection with Poultry, Cornhill, London, King William Street and Lombard Street, London, to Bishopsgate....
. The design was inspired by a bourse

Bourse

Bourse may refer to:*exchange *stock exchange*Paris Bourse*Bourse *Bourse de Travail*Bourse de Casablanca*Bourse de Tunis*Bourse de Luxembourg...
Gresham had seen in Antwerp.

The Royal Exchange was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
who awarded the building its Royal title, on 23 January 1571.

Gresham's original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London

Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of London, England, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666....
in 1666. A second exchange was built on the site, designed by Edward Jerman, which opened in 1669, and which was also destroyed by fire in January 1838.

During the 17th century, stockbrokers were not allowed in the Royal Exchange due to their rude manners, hence they had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, like Jonathan's Coffee-House

Jonathan's Coffee-House

Jonathan's Coffee-House in Change Alley, London is famous as the original site of the London Stock Exchange. The Coffee-House was founded by Jonathan Miles, in Exchange Alley, around 1680....
.

The third Royal Exchange building still stands on the site and adheres to the original layout - consisting of a four-sided structure surrounding a central courtyard where merchants and tradesmen could do business. This building was designed by Sir William Tite

William Tite

Sir William Tite, Order of the Bath was an England architect who served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was particularly associated with various London buildings, with railway stations and cemetery projects....
, features pediment sculptures by Richard Westmacott (the younger)

Richard Westmacott (the younger)

Richard Westmacott - also sometimes described as Richard Westmacott III - was a prominent England sculptor of the early- and mid-19th century....
, and was opened by Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was from 20 June 1837 the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and from 1 May 1876 the first Empress of India of the British Raj until her death....
on 28 October 1844, though trading did not commence until 1 January 1845.

The Royal Exchange ceased to act as a centre of commerce in 1939, although it was for a few years in the 1980s, home to the London International Financial Futures Exchange, LIFFE. It is now a luxurious shopping centre.

Shops in the Royal Exchange include Hermès

Hermes

Hermes is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. An Twelve Olympians, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of general commerce, and of the cunni...
, Molton Brown, Paul Smith, Haines & Bonner

Haines & Bonner

Haines and Bonner is a premium quality shirt manufacturer, founded in 1865, with shops in Covent Garden, the City of London and stockists throughout the UK....
, Tiffany

Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany & Co. is a United States jewellery and Silver company founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young in New York City in 1837 as a "stationery and fancy goods emporium."...
and Jo Malone.

The Gresham Grasshopper

The big Gresham Grasshopper can be seen on the Royal Exchange's weathervane. This commemorates the founder, Sir Thomas Gresham

Thomas Gresham

Shem Drowne

Deacon Shem Drowne was a colonial coppersmith and tinplate worker in Boston, Massachusetts and was America's first documented weathervane maker....
atop the famous Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall , located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, Boston, Massachusetts, in Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742....
in Boston, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
, in imitation of the Royal Exchange.

Royal Exchange (London)

The Gresham Grasshopper

External links