The facts of the Bank Stock Office's heating system are difficult to ascertain. Views of the built hall show the central stove and north wall chimney piece as depicted in SM volume 74/36 and SM 10/8/11. Accounts record the stove-maker A. Ramellie being paid £138:18:0 for 'a heating stove... placed in the cellar' in April 1793, probably corresponding to the firebox and stove illustrated in SM volume 74/35.

What remains unclear is whether or not the full hypocaust system shown in SM volume 74/34 was realised. Todd Willmert's in-depth study of Soane's heating systems presumes not, for unexplained reasons. But the appearance of ductwork in SM volume 74/29 nd SM volume 74/37 suggests otherwise. Also unknown are the elements of the system that would have been designed by Soane and those by expert craftsmen like Ramellie.

In any event, SM volume 74/20, SM volume 74/34, SM volume 74/35, SM volume 74/36 and SM 10/8/1 illustrate the importance Soane placed on the hall's heating and his willingness to utilise fairly advanced systems, as Willmert has shown. The Bank Stock Office probably remained quite chilly, especially for the clerks and tellers working in winter well away from the central stove. Arthur T. Bolton (The Works of Sir John Soane, 1924, p. 64) reported that eventually independent stoves were placed against the hall's piers.

Literature. T. Willmert. 'Heating methods and their impact on Soane's work: Lincoln's Inn Fields and Dulwich Picture Gallery', Journal of Society of Architectural Historians, 52/1, March 1993, pp. 26-58