Lombard Street

Lombard Street from Bank junction. The street continues to the left of St Mary Woolnoth church; to the right is King William Street.
Maintained by	City of London Corporation
Length	260 m (850 ft)[1]
Addresses	1 to 82
Location	London, United Kingdom
Postal code	EC3
Nearest train station	Bank
Northwest end	Bank junction
Major junctions	King William Street
Southeast end	Gracechurch Street
Other
Known for	Banking
Status	Unclassified

Lombard Street (/ˈlɒmbərd, -bɑːrd/) is a street notable for its connections with the City of London's merchant, banking and insurance industries, stretching back to medieval times.

From Bank junction, where nine streets converge by the Bank of England, Lombard Street runs southeast for a short distance before bearing left into a more easterly direction, and terminates at a junction with Gracechurch Street and Fenchurch Street. Its overall length is 260 metres (280 yd).

It has often been compared with Wall Street in New York City.

Description

Lombard Street, since the construction of King William Street, has two distinct sections. The short section between Bank junction and the church of St Mary Woolnoth is relatively wide, and carries two-way traffic including several bus routes, which continues along King William Street. Lombard Street bears to the east and the remainder is much narrower (retaining its medieval character) and is one-way.

At the eastern end of the street, there are a number of modern buildings on both sides, in contrast to the older buildings and architectural styles along much of its length. Built in 1990–92, the former headquarters of Barclays covers a large plot on the north corner of Lombard and Gracechurch streets, and is the largest and tallest building in the immediate vicinity of Lombard Street, at 87 metres (285 ft) high.^[2]

Addresses on the street are numbered 1 to 40 along the south side, running from Bank to Gracechurch Street, then 41 to 82 along the north side, from Gracechurch Street to Bank. The postcodes for the street start with EC3V.

The nearest London Underground stations to Lombard Street are Bank and Monument; one of the numerous entrances to Bank station is on Lombard Street itself. Mainline railway stations at Cannon Street and Fenchurch Street are also close by.

The street runs downhill towards Bank, being on the eastern side of the Walbrook valley. At its junction with Gracechurch Street it is at an elevation of 16.7 metres (55 ft), whilst at its junction at Bank it is at 13.5 metres (44 ft).^[1]

Side streets and alleys run towards Cornhill to the north, and Cannon Street to the south. Running north are Pope's Head Alley, Change Alley, Birchin Lane and George Yard. Heading south are St Swithin's Lane, Post Office Court, Abchurch Lane, Nicholas Lane, Clement's Lane and Plough Court.^[1]

History

Church of St Edmund, King and Martyr

Lombard Street has its origins in one of the main Roman roads of Londinium. It later formed a plot of land granted by King Edward I (1272–1307) to the so-called Lombard bankers, merchants and lenders from northern Italy (a larger area than the modern Lombardy region).

In 1537 Sir Richard Gresham suggested to Lord Privy Seal, Thomas Cromwell that they "make a goodely Bursse in Lombert-streete, for marchuants to repayer unto". From this originated the Royal Exchange built by Sir Richard's son, Thomas.^[3]

Blue plaque marking the location of Lloyd's Coffee House, notable in the development of the City's insurance market

Cornhill, Lombard Street and Mansion House in 1810

Lloyd's Coffee House, which eventually became the global insurance market Lloyd's of London, moved to Lombard Street near the General Post Office from Tower Street in 1691. The location, on the south side of the street, is now occupied at street level by a supermarket. Lloyd's is now located in Lime Street, where its current building was completed in 1986.

Until the 1980s, most UK-based banks had their head offices in Lombard Street and historically it has been the London home for money lenders. No. 54 was the long-standing headquarters of Barclays before the financial institution moved in 2005 to One Churchill Place at Canary Wharf. No. 71 was the headquarters of Lloyds Bank, and No. 60 was the headquarters of the Trustee Savings Bank (TSB).

Lombard Street has a number of colourful signs hanging from the buildings, depicting (mostly historic) organisations and buildings once located there. Having previously been banned, the present-day signs were erected for the coronation of Edward VII in 1902.

From 1678 to 1829, the General Post Office had its headquarters on Lombard Street; this is now commemorated by the side-street's name of Post Office Court. The expense of continuously expanding the post office site in the middle of the financial district, however, eventually necessitated a move to St Martins-le-Grand. The slums at the site were cleared in the early 19th century and the General Post Office East was constructed.^[4]

Language and literature

In old literature, it is generally written as "Lombard-street". The spacing and the capitalisation of Street were not common in British English until the second half of the 20th century.

In his diary of the 1660s, Samuel Pepys mentions "Lumbard street" many times; there is a chart with links to these references.^[5]

"All Lombard Street to a China orange" is an old-fashioned idiom meaning very heavily weighted odds; "Lombard-street" signifying wealth and "a China orange", poverty. The 'China orange' was used to indicate an item of low value.^[6][7][8][9]

Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market is a book by the economics philosopher Walter Bagehot, published in 1873. Bagehot was one of the first writers to describe and explain the world of international and corporate finance, banking, and money in understandable language. The book was in part a reaction to the 1866 collapse of Overend, Gurney and Company, a bank headquartered at No. 65, Lombard Street.

Note the monument outside St Mary Woolnoth, which was taken down and re-erected at Ballard Down in 1892.^[10]

Karl Marx mentions Lombard Street in reference to credit and banking in Das Kapital.

People

Gregory de Rokesley, eight-times Lord Mayor of London from 1274 to 1281 and in 1285, lived in a building on the site of what is now No. 72 Lombard Street, and in Pope's Head Alley.

The poet Alexander Pope was born at No. 32 in 1688.

CSM Horace Crabtree and family, Military Medal Recipient, lived at a property formally No. 37 Lombard St 1950-1960

Gallery

• 
  The Gresham grasshopper
• 
• 
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See also

• Lombard banking
• Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market

References

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lombard Street, London.

• John Timbs (1867), "Lombard Street", Curiosities of London (2nd ed.), London: J.C. Hotten, OCLC 12878129
• Herbert Fry (1880), "Lombard Street", London in 1880, London: David Bogue.
• Ben Weinreb; et al. (2008). "Lombard Street". The London Encyclopaedia (3rd ed.). Macmillan. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-230-73878-2.

51°30′45″N 0°05′13″W / 51.5125°N 0.0869°W / 51.5125; -0.0869