Goldsmiths' Hall

At the corner of Foster Lane and Gresham St. stands GOLDSMITHS' HALL, a handsome Renaissance edifice, erected by Philip Hardwick in its present form in 1835. INTERIOR (visitors usually admitted on Monday on application). In the principal rooms are portraits of George III. and Queen Charlotte, by Allan Ramsay. In the Banqueting Hall are portraits of Queen Adelaide, by Shee; Queen Victoria, by Hayter; Prince Albert, by Winterhalter. The busts of George III., George IV., and William IV. are by Chantrey; the statues of Cleopatra, the Sibyl, and Medea, by Story. In the Court Room are portraits of Sir Hugh Myddelton, by C. Johnson, and Sir Martin Bowes (Lord Mayor in 1545) holding a silver-gilt cup which Queen Elizabeth is said to have used at her coronation, and the remains of a Roman altar discovered in digging the foundations of the hall. The fine collection of plate includes the cup shown in the portrait of Sir Martin Bowes. The Goldsmiths' Company, which was incorporated in 1327, has the duty of assaying and stamping gold and silver plate. Its hall mark is the leopard's head Trial of the pyx. GRESHAM STREET, parallel with Cheapside, runs east from St. Martin's le Grand to Lothbury and the Bank of England. Near its west end is St. Anne and St. Agnes, used as the church of Swiss Protestants in London. Just beyond Goldsmiths' Hall, at the corner of Gutter Lane, is Wax Chandlers' Hall (rebuilt in 1852), and on the opposite (north) side at the corner of Wood St. is Haberdashers' Hall, the seat of a company which controls large trust funds for educational purposes. The latter hall, ascribed to Wren but much altered, was restored after a fire in 1864. For the east part of Gresham St.