Michelin Green Guide London, 10e by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Michelin Travel & Lifestyle
Published: 2015-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

St Peter-upon-Cornhill claims to stand on the highest ground and on the oldest church site in the City. The present building (1677–87) was designed by Wren (Entrance from St Peter’s Alley; >open by appointment; t020 7283 2231; St Helen’s Bishopsgate Church Office).

The unusual vane in the form of a key, flying at the top of the spire, is visible only from the churchyard (south) and Gracechurch Street (east).

Inside, one’s eyes are drawn to the oak screena, one of only two to survive in Wren’s churches (Tsee INTRODUCTION – Architecture). The organ gallery, which is meant to have accommodated Mendelssohn on at least two occasions, is original, as are other furnishings, including the pulpit and the font.

Ñ Continue along Cornhill, turn right onto Gracechurch St. and left onto Leadenhall Market.

Leadenhall Market

Gracechurch Street.

Leadenhall, a bustling food market specialising in game, is at its most spectacular at the start of the shooting season and at Christmas. The glass and ironwork market hall is an architectural delight. The Lamb Tavern, with its early-20C décor, is frequented by market traders.

There has been a market on this site since Roman times. The market takes its name from the house’s lead-covered roof; burned down in the Fire, the market buildings were re-erected then, and again to their present form in 1881.

Ñ Turn left up Lime St. and pass round to the front of the Lloyd’s Building.

Lloyd’saa

>Open once a year as part of London’s Open House day; call for details. t020 7327 1000. www.lloyds.com.

The trading activities of Lloyd’s, the biggest insurance corporation in the world, are conducted in a striking steel and glass building (1986) designed by Sir Richard Rogers, one of the architects of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, with which it bears striking similarities.

Six towers enclose a central atrium that rises 200ft/61m to a glass barrel vault. Great long escalators link the storeys with the ground level featuring an open-plan environment; glass lifts travel up the exterior of the building. Ventilation shafts, power ducting and water conduits are also streamlined along the outside.

The company’s history goes back to 1691, when Edward Lloyd took over Pontaq’s at 16 Lombard Street (plaque on Coutts’ Bank), a French-owned eating house. The house became the favourite meeting place of merchants, shippers, bankers, underwriters, agents and newsmen. Lloyd inaugurated the still-current system of posting notices and lists of port agents, transport vessels, cargo shipments, agents and other such shipping intelligence. He died in 1713 (plaque in St Mary Woolnoth) and in 1774, Lloyd’s transferred to more spacious quarters at Cornhill, where it remained until 1928, when the first insurance offices opened in Lime Street.

Ñ Cross Leadenhall St. and turn left up St Mary Axe.

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