Second Hall
The first Carpenters’ Hall survived the Great Fire of 1666, thanks to a firebreak created by its gardens and those of nearby Drapers’ Hall.
However, a fire in 1849 severely weakened the building, and this, along with the Drapers’ Company’s plan to create a new private road (later called Throgmorton Avenue), encouraged the Carpenters’ Company to redevelop the site. Throgmorton Avenue is still privately owned by the Drapers’ and Carpenters’ Companies.Banqueting Hall 1939
Work began in 1876 on the demolition of the old Hall, and the second Hall was opened in 1880. Designed by William Wilmer Pocock (Master of the Company in 1883), the Hall was in an Italianate style and included a banqueting hall 76 feet long, one of the largest in the City of London.
The total cost of building the Hall was about £50,000. Various fixtures and fittings were salvaged from the first Hall, including Tudor panels, Jacobean oak chimney pieces and the original glass, and re-used in the new Hall.
For the first time since 1666, the Company could host all its functions at the Hall. It was also used for lectures, exhibitions, and for entertaining wounded soldiers and sailors during the First World War.
