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In the fourteenth century the Fishmongers'
Hall included a Great Hall for the newly-important Livery Company
to meet, a Counting House and dwelling, and this was rebuilt
in brick and timber in Elizabethan times. This hall was the
first of forty Livery Halls to be destroyed in the Great Fire
of London in 1666.
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| The new seventeenth century hall was a red-brick
building with twin flights of steps, and Sir Christopher Wren
had a hand in its design, being one of the first riverside buildings
completed after the fire. It features in many paintings of London's
riverside including views by Canaletto. In the early nineteenth
century, Sir John Rennie's new bridge was placed upstream from
the old and the Fishmongers' Hall had to be demolished. |
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A competition was held for the design of
a new hall under the supervison of Sir Robert Smirke, the architect
of the British Museum. The winner was Henry Roberts whose bold
Greek designs evolved into the present hall which was completed
in 1835, with drawings prepared by the young Giles Gilbert Scott.
Apart from damage during the war, the Fishmongers' Hall has
remained uniquely unaltered as one of the City's finest Livery
Halls. |
| For more information on the history of the
Hall and the Fishmongers' Company, visit their website. |
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