Midland Bank, Poultry
History and description
The Birmingham and Midland Bank was founded by Charles Geach in Birmingham in 1836. In under a century, through a long series of amalgamations, and the establishment of a successful overseas business, it had become the largest bank in the world. Renamed the Midland Bank in 1923, in 1924 it commissioned a new headquarters building on Poultry in the City of London. The architect was Edwin Lutyens. The first building was completed by 1929, but Lutyens returned to undertake a major expansion between 1935 and 1937. Following the Midland's financial decline in the late 20th century, it was absorbed into HSBC in 1992 and the Poultry headquarters was vacated and subsequently sold. The building was repurposed, and opened as a hotel, named "The Ned" in Lutyens' honour, in 2017. The building's restoration, a partnership between Soho House and the Sydell Hotels Group, has drawn praise from both architectural critics and travel writers.
Lutyens' connection to the Midland Bank came through Reginald McKenna, a senior politician who became the bank's chairman in 1919. McKenna was married to a niece of Gertrude Jekyll, Lutyens' long-time collaborator, and Lutyens had been commissioned to design the McKenna's London townhouse, Mulberry House, in Smith Square in 1912. On McKenna's accession to the chairmanship of the Midland, he engaged Lutyens to design the bank's new headquarters.
The building is listed at Grade I by Historic England, which considers it one of Lutyens' "finest urban buildings".
Footnotes
- ^ Mulberry House, 36 Smith Square, was subsequently bought by Henry Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett who, in conjunction with his wife, Gwen, commissioned an elaborate interior re-decoration by the architect Darcy Braddell. The result has been described as "one of the most important Art Deco interiors in London."
- ^ Lutyens designed much of the furniture and fittings for the new bank. A set of chairs for the directors' boardroom was placed for sale at Phillips in 2019.