Open Hooooooouse 2015 #7

I got some new batteries and took myself off to Strada for lunch (seafood pasta, obviously) and checked my plans for the afternoon. I next went off to Stationers’ Hall, which was hidden away off Ave Maria Lane. I didn’t stay too long, as the building was quite small and it was very crowded, but the highlight was actually the garden, which has a whacking great London Plane in the middle of it.

The main part of the hall was built in the 1670s after the previous hall was burnt down in the great fire in 1666, and some of it was restored in the 1950s after bomb damage.

Also I got a cloth bag, which is always nice. 

From there I headed up to Drapers’ Hall (attempting 6 Bevis Marks next to the Gherkin, but the queues were unsurprisingly massive), which was another building much bigger than the entrance would suggest (because most of it is hidden back off Throgmorton Street) which had some incredibly ornate interiors. Gold leaf all over the shop.

Drapers' Hall has been on its current site since 1543 but it has been rebuilt twice in that time, and some of the current building dates from the second half of the 19th century. I could narrow it down more than that but then we'd be here all day. Let's not even talk about the number of architects who've worked on the building.