Inventory Site Record

The Bank of England dates from 1694 but did not have its own building until 1724; it has had a Garden Court since 1781 when, the Bank's premises needing enlargement, the Church of St Christopher-le-Stocks was demolished and its churchyard incorporated as a garden. As the Bank's business increased in the late C18th onwards, Sir John Soane was commissioned to further expand the buildings which he reconstructed between 1788 and 1827, his banking halls particularly famous. From 1916 the Bank underwent further rebuilding largely under Sir Herbert Baker, completed in 1939, during which the original position of the garden courtyard had changed to the present site. A War Memorial with a bronze statue of St Christopher by Richard R Goulden, 1921, stands in the current garden, which has lawns, trees and flower beds.

Site location:

Threadneedle Street

Postcode:

EC2R 8AH

What 3 Words:

acute.habit.tester

Type of site:

Private Garden

Borough:

City of London

Open to public?

Occasionally

Opening times:

No public access, but the Bank of England has opened for Open House London.

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Bank (Central, DLR, Northern, Waterloo & City) / Monument (Circle, District). Bus: 8, 11, 26, 43, 76, 133, 242

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/06/2007

Last minor changes:

29/03/2026

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news.

St Christopher-le-Stocks was the first church to be demolished since the destruction of many churches in the Great Fire of London and had stood here from at least the C14th with a tower either built or rebuilt in 1506. By 1666 there was a cloister around the north churchyard. The church was partly damaged in the fire and rebuilt by Wren.

Sources consulted:

F E Cleary, 'The Flowering City', The City Press, 1969; Simon Bradley & Nikolaus Pevsner, 'The Buildings of England, London 1: The City of London', 1997 (1999 ed.); London Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches data; Gerald Cobb 'The Old Churches of London', Batsford, 1942; Susan Palmer 'Rus in Urbe: The Garden at the Bank of England 1780s-1933', The London Gardener, vol 14, 2008-9

Grid ref:

TQ327812 (532741,181194)

Size in hectares:

0.0732

Site ownership:

Bank of England

Site management:

Bank of England Property Services

Date(s):

1781; 1939

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

LBI: Bank of England

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Bank

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

None