A lease on the house in Hanover Street was bought from William Earle for £3,000 in January 1827 and the bank was open for business, after considerable alterations and repairs on 2 July of the same year (op. cit. below, p. 433). By 1832, thought was given to extending the premises and an adjoining house was purchased for demolition. Soane submitted a plan for the new bank (drawing 12) but in the end the old building was not demolished but used to house the senior clerk. In 1844 a fresh site was found in Castle Street and C. R. Cockerell (1788-1863) who had succeeded Soane as architect to the Bank of England in 1833 designed the new bank (op. cit. below, p. 568). Built 1846-8, Cockerell's building survives and is listed by English Heritage as Grade I.

Literature:
W. Marston Acres, The Bank of England from Within, 1694-1900, Vol. II, 1931.

Jill Lever, February 2013