Finsbury Bank for Savings
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History of the building

Chapter 10 of 121841–1953

Why 18½?

The bank was built on a plot between Nos 18 and 19, which were going up at the same time. For decades it had no number of its own. The Post Office Directory of 1841 placed it “between 18 & 21 Sekford st.”; the 1852 edition had it “between 18 & 19 Sekforde street”. The directories of 1881, 1889 and 1914 still print it without a number, among the entries for No. 18, although by 1881 the same street had a “24½”.

The earliest “18½” found comes from the bank’s chief clerk, giving evidence in 1912: “Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank, 18½ Sekforde Street, Clerkenwell”. Whitaker’s Almanack used the number from 1947, and the Ordnance Survey plan surveyed in 1952 prints “18½” on the building, between Nos 19 and 18. Historic England lists it, in words, as “18 AND A HALF, SEKFORDE STREET”. Other official records have tried “18A” and “18.5”. No formal numbering order has been found.

Ordnance Survey plan with a building on Sekforde Street marked ‘Bank’ and numbered 18½, between No. 19 to the north and No. 18 to the south, a ruin behind it, schools across Woodbridge Street and a distillery across Sekforde Street. (full-size image)
The Ordnance Survey plan surveyed in 1952: ‘Bank’, numbered 18½, between Nos 19 and 18.Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Notes

  1. Survey of London vol. 46, p. 82, summary table (Nos 17–18 and 19, 1839–40; No. 18½, 1839–41).
  2. Post Office London Directory 1841, p. 805; Post Office London Directory (Small Edition) 1852, Commercial Directory, p. 731 (University of Leicester Special Collections Online, page images).
  3. Post Office London Directory 1881, Street Directory, p. 587 (https://archive.org/download/postofficelondon0000unse/page/n612_w2400.jpg); 1889, p. 612; 1914, p. 617.
  4. Young (ed.), Trial of the Seddons (1914), p. 49. This is the earliest use found, not proof of first use.
  5. Whitaker’s Almanack 1947; Ordnance Survey 1:1250 plan TQ3182SE, edition A, surveyed 1952, published 1953 (https://maps.nls.uk/view/102904597).
  6. Historic England list entry 1209479 (“18 AND A HALF, SEKFORDE STREET, EC1R 0HL”); Islington planning register, 991079/991080 (“18A, SEKFORDE STREET”, 1999) and applications of 2002–03 (“18.5, SEKFORDE STREET”).