Chapter 9 of 121928–1999

Steel windows, lime green, and a house

According to the Survey of London, the bank remodelled its office in 1928 to designs by the architect Cecil H. Perkins. Steel-framed windows went in, and two ground-floor windows became double doors “in connection with considerable internal re-ordering”. “The small grilled first-floor windows, to ventilate a lavatory and light a staircase, were added at this time.”1 Survey of London vol. 46, p. 83, para [p82] and fn. 51 (“IBC: DSR”: Islington building-control files and District Surveyors’ Returns). The printed page reads “Steel-framed” and “first-floor”. Perkins was an ARIBA practising from 32 Theobalds Road, Gray’s Inn, in 1927 (Journal of the RIBA, 17 September 1927, letter signed “Cecil H. Perkins [A.]”). Historic England describes the ground-floor glazing as “metal and apparently early C20 in date”; by the time of the list description all seven central openings were “now windows”, so the 1928 doorways had since been glazed in again (list entry 1209479). In 1840 the domestic rooms had been hidden precisely to avoid “the meanness of many small external windows”.2 CEAJ (July 1840), p. 217. The comparison is this page’s. In 1928 the bank was still independent and was itself absorbing smaller banks. Why it made the changes is not recorded.3 The Survey of London (vol. 46, p. 83, para [p82]) says that the 1928 works followed “the bank’s absorption into the London Trustee Savings Bank”. That is a slip: the London Trustee Savings Bank was not formed until 1942. Lloyds catalogues ledgers of 1927–46 as Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank records (catalogue TD, TD/489/a/9–12), and the Official Index to The Times still reported the bank under that name in January–March 1936. See also chapter 7, note 8.

On 21 May 1942 the Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank and the London Savings Bank merged to form the London Trustee Savings Bank.4 The Economist, vol. 142, no. 5150, 9 May 1942, p. 654, “Savings Bank Concentration” (https://archive.org/details/sim_economist_1942-05-09_142_5150): “From May 21 next, the two banks will merge under the name of London Trustee Savings Bank.” Horne (1947), p. 373, calls them “the two surviving Trustee Savings Banks in the Metropolis”, which came together “after long negotiations”; Archives Hub GB 386 TC/72 (Wayback capture 2024): “On 21 May 1942 after long negotiations the National Debt Commissioners consented to the amalgamation”. At the end of 1941 Finsbury owed £4,405,000 to 44,000 depositors (The Banker, June 1942, p. 122). Sekforde Street was no longer a head office. From New Year’s Day 1949 it was the main office of the Savings Banks Institute, and the banking office stayed until 1961, when it moved to Goswell Road.5 Archives Hub GB 386 TC/45 (as chapter 2, note 1): “The premises of the former head office of the Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank became the main office of the Savings Bank Institute on New Years Day 1949” and “the bank moved to premises at Goswell Road” in 1961. Only the Lloyds description gives New Year’s Day 1949. Whitaker’s Almanack 1950: “SAVINGS BANKS INSTITUTE, 18½ Sekforde St. Clerkenwell, E.C.1.”; by 1952 the Institute had moved to Tavistock Square (Whitaker’s Almanack 1952; Willing’s Press Guide 1952/3). Whitaker’s Almanack for 1947 and 1948 gives “18½, Sekforde St., Clerkenwell, E.C.1.” as the address of the Trustee Savings Banks Inspection Committee. The Survey of London (vol. 46, p. 83, para [p83]) says more loosely “Closed in the 1960s”. The bank then used the building as its data-processing centre until the early 1970s.6 Archives Hub GB 386 TC/45 (as chapter 2, note 1): “used until the early 1970s as the Bank’s Data Processing Centre”. In those years the front was painted lime green, which Ian Nairn called “a disaster which almost obliterates the building”. His whole verdict is in chapter 11.7

“After a century of sobriety we have seen fit to repaint it in lime green.”

Ian Nairn, Nairn’s London, Penguin, 1966, p. 1727 Nairn, Nairn’s London (1966), p. 172, quoted in full in chapter 11. Nairn is the only source for the colour; when the building was repainted is not recorded.

By 1974 the stockbrokers Schaverien & Co. were at “18½ Seckforde Street”, and their successor firm was still there in 1991.8 London Gazette 46362, 7 October 1974, p. 8492; Kelly’s Post Office London Directory 1977 and Financial Times notices 1980–84; The Book of Traded Options (1991) and St James World Futures and Options Directory 1991–92. The successor firm was Charlton Seal Schaverien. The London Encyclopaedia (Weinreb and Hibbert, eds, entry “Woodbridge Estate”) described “a pretty Venetian-style building in Sekforde Street (now offices) by Alfred Bartholomew, another local architect”. In the mid-1990s, in the Survey’s words, the building was converted “into one large dwelling”. By 1999 Islington’s records describe it as a “single family dwelling house”.9 Survey of London vol. 46, p. 83, para [p83] and fn. 52: “Closed in the 1960s, the bank was converted first to offices, and then into one large dwelling in the mid-1990s.” Islington planning register, applications 950265 and 950266 (decided 10 July 1995, issued 26 September 1995): “Conversion of B1 use building into two residential units”; applications 991079 and 991080 (decided 6 October 1999, issued 8 October 1999): “Refurbishment of single family dwelling house …”.

Notes

Survey of London vol. 46, p. 83, para [p82] and fn. 51 (“IBC: DSR”: Islington building-control files and District Surveyors’ Returns). The printed page reads “Steel-framed” and “first-floor”. Perkins was an ARIBA practising from 32 Theobalds Road, Gray’s Inn, in 1927 (Journal of the RIBA, 17 September 1927, letter signed “Cecil H. Perkins [A.]”). Historic England describes the ground-floor glazing as “metal and apparently early C20 in date”; by the time of the list description all seven central openings were “now windows”, so the 1928 doorways had since been glazed in again (list entry 1209479).
CEAJ (July 1840), p. 217. The comparison is this page’s.
The Survey of London (vol. 46, p. 83, para [p82]) says that the 1928 works followed “the bank’s absorption into the London Trustee Savings Bank”. That is a slip: the London Trustee Savings Bank was not formed until 1942. Lloyds catalogues ledgers of 1927–46 as Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank records (catalogue TD, TD/489/a/9–12), and the Official Index to The Times still reported the bank under that name in January–March 1936. See also chapter 7, note 8.
The Economist, vol. 142, no. 5150, 9 May 1942, p. 654, “Savings Bank Concentration” (https://archive.org/details/sim_economist_1942-05-09_142_5150): “From May 21 next, the two banks will merge under the name of London Trustee Savings Bank.” Horne (1947), p. 373, calls them “the two surviving Trustee Savings Banks in the Metropolis”, which came together “after long negotiations”; Archives Hub GB 386 TC/72 (Wayback capture 2024): “On 21 May 1942 after long negotiations the National Debt Commissioners consented to the amalgamation”. At the end of 1941 Finsbury owed £4,405,000 to 44,000 depositors (The Banker, June 1942, p. 122).
Archives Hub GB 386 TC/45 (as chapter 2, note 1): “The premises of the former head office of the Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank became the main office of the Savings Bank Institute on New Years Day 1949” and “the bank moved to premises at Goswell Road” in 1961. Only the Lloyds description gives New Year’s Day 1949. Whitaker’s Almanack 1950: “SAVINGS BANKS INSTITUTE, 18½ Sekforde St. Clerkenwell, E.C.1.”; by 1952 the Institute had moved to Tavistock Square (Whitaker’s Almanack 1952; Willing’s Press Guide 1952/3). Whitaker’s Almanack for 1947 and 1948 gives “18½, Sekforde St., Clerkenwell, E.C.1.” as the address of the Trustee Savings Banks Inspection Committee. The Survey of London (vol. 46, p. 83, para [p83]) says more loosely “Closed in the 1960s”.
Archives Hub GB 386 TC/45 (as chapter 2, note 1): “used until the early 1970s as the Bank’s Data Processing Centre”.
Nairn, Nairn’s London (1966), p. 172, quoted in full in chapter 11. Nairn is the only source for the colour; when the building was repainted is not recorded.
London Gazette 46362, 7 October 1974, p. 8492; Kelly’s Post Office London Directory 1977 and Financial Times notices 1980–84; The Book of Traded Options (1991) and St James World Futures and Options Directory 1991–92. The successor firm was Charlton Seal Schaverien. The London Encyclopaedia (Weinreb and Hibbert, eds, entry “Woodbridge Estate”) described “a pretty Venetian-style building in Sekforde Street (now offices) by Alfred Bartholomew, another local architect”.
Survey of London vol. 46, p. 83, para [p83] and fn. 52: “Closed in the 1960s, the bank was converted first to offices, and then into one large dwelling in the mid-1990s.” Islington planning register, applications 950265 and 950266 (decided 10 July 1995, issued 26 September 1995): “Conversion of B1 use building into two residential units”; applications 991079 and 991080 (decided 6 October 1999, issued 8 October 1999): “Refurbishment of single family dwelling house …”.