Soane repaired the Dividend Pay Office's lantern in 1792. The Dividend Pay Office (also called the Dividend Warrant Office) was located in the west wing, erected on the site of the church of St Christopher-le-Stocks in 1782-85 and designed by Robert Taylor. It was a public space, for the payment of dividends and coupons for loans domiciled at the Bank. Visitors could enter the office directly through a door in the Front Court, making it easily accessible to the public. The Dividend Pay Office was a square room with a curved east wall and a simple cornice decorating the walls. The office had originally been used as the Bank Stock Office when built in 1785, but in 1788 the Dividend Warrant Office moved here from a room in the south-west of the east wing and the Bank Stock Office was relocated to the east wing.

Taylor had used top lighting in many of the offices. With only three north-facing windows in the Dividend Warrant Office, an oval lantern was necessary for shedding light into the large room. The lantern, however, was made of timber and easily decayed; the Dividend Pay Office roof had stood not even a decade when Soane took action for its replacement.

Literature. E. Hennessy, A Domestic history of the Bank of England, 1992. pp. 47-49, 253; D. Abramson, Money's architecture: the building of the Bank of England, 1731-1833, Doctoral thesis for the Department of Fine Arts, Harvard University, 1993. pp. 307-308;

Madeleine Helmer, 2010

Group

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk