Tuesday 13 October 2015

Drapers Hall

This week saw the final of the BBC series 'The Great British Menu' where, this year, chefs competed for the honour of cooking at a banquet to celebrate 100 years of the Women's Institute. The banquet was held at Draper's Hall in London.



During Open House weekend a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit the hall. As the name suggests the Drapers' company was involved in the buying and selling of woollen cloth within the City of London (nowadays it administers charitable trusts). The first Royal Charter granted to the Drapers is dated 1364. The company regulated the drapery trade by setting prices, quality standards and oversaw the training of those learning the trade. It protected the trade from rivals outside the City of London. When an order of precedence of the City Companies in 1516, the Drapers position was third after the Mercers and Grocers.

  There has been a Hall on this site since 1543. Destroyed in the Great fire of 1666, rebuilt and destroyed in another fire in 1772. Since then it has been altered and redesigned when necessary.
Walking through the bronze doors of the Throgmorton street entrance you walk down an oak panelled corridor with a stained glass window.



Another window looks out onto the courtyard. The surprise for me was just how big this building is once you enter those doors.




Staircase and Landing

























The Court Dining Room












The Livery Hall (where the Women's Institute Banquet was held)
























All along the corridor are a selection of royal charters and grants of arms dating back to 1364!

















The Drawing Room









From one of the windows you can see some of the modern buildings that surround Drapers' Hall.



16 comments:

  1. Fabulous pictures, almost too much to take in! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love all the details of the building you've shown us!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a fantastic building, love all the detail in the decorating - signs of another time.

    Diana

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just a few elements of detail thrown about, huh. Gorgeous. I loved that stained glass.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a wonderful place to visit, I really enjoyed that program as well and though at the time what a place to cook. They must have been overwhelmed

    ReplyDelete
  6. Open house days are great. We missed out this year. apparently one has to book ahead now. This is a beautiful building.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi! Nice collection of beautiful photos. I feel weight of the history. I enjoyed your former posts too.
    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi! Nice collection of beautiful photos. I feel weight of the history. I enjoyed your former posts too.
    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So beautiful preserved. I wonder what the winning chef served! It must have been spectacular to be worthy of that ornate and lovely dining room.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's quite an imposing building ! And so beautiful inside !

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stunning building with an amazing and unique history. I did not expect to see a courtyard in the middle like this!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a spectacular building! It seems a little too ornate to have just been a drapers hall - unless I've completely misunderstood the importance of drapery in past times!! LOVE the windows!

    ReplyDelete
  13. stunning. i love old buildings. this one is so spectacular. wow.....

    ReplyDelete
  14. Beautiful reflection within this very interesting building both inside adn out. Have a lovely weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Beautiful art and architecture

    ReplyDelete

Thank-you for reading my blog. I would love to read your comments.