Royal Exchange

City (EC3) In Lombard Street, at the sign of the "Grasshopper," lived Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of Gresham College and of the first Royal Exchange, which, situated on the north side of Cornhill, was built at his expense on ground presented to him for the purpose by the City of London. He himself laid the first stone on June 7, 1566. Previously to its erection, as we are told, the merchants of London were "more like pedlars than merchants, either walking and talking in an open, narrow street, enduring all extremity of weather, or standing in gateways and doorways." The street here alluded to was Lombard Street, where the merchants were anciently accustomed to meet for the transactions of business. Sir Thomas Gresham's magnificent edifice was completed in 1567 and styled by the foreign title of "The Bourse." The upper part of the building was appropriated to shops; the area and piazzas below being set apart for the use of the merchants. Exactly a century after the laying of the first stone, the original Royal Exchange perished in the Great Fire. Not long afterwards a new and still more magnificent edifice was commenced at the expense of the merchants of London, with a small addition from the Gresham Fund. This Exchange was also burnt down in 1838. The present Royal Exchange was built after designs of William Tite, and was opened by Queen Victoria in October 1844. (Reference: Jesse's London, vol. III, pp. 320, 355, 360)