THE LEATHERSELLERS
A SHORT HISTORY
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Bomb damage in the Reception Room of the sixth Hall, 1993.
Intricately and beautifully designed by Eric Parry Architects, and with interior features designed or created by artists and designers such as Victoria Crowe, Bill Amberg and Dale Chihuly, the seventh Hall was officially opened by the Earl of Wessex in 2017.
In 1992, almost fifty years of peace in St Helen’s Place was shattered by a terrorist bomb that exploded in St Mary Axe. Buildings in the immediate vicinity, including St Helen’s church and the Company’s Exchequer Court development were damaged, some irreparably. Repairs were still in hand a year later when a massive device exploded in Bishopsgate. St Ethelburga’s church was destroyed and every window in St Helen’s Place was broken. Inside Leathersellers’ Hall doors were blown in and pictures cut by flying glass. Reinstatement works began again, and the Company took advantage of the disruption to improve the appearance of St Helen’s Place. To celebrate the Millennium, the Company commissioned two bronze sculptures to flank the entrance to Leathersellers’ Hall. Made by Mark Coreth, the sculptures represent the ram and roebuck, the Company’s heraldic ‘beasts’ that feature on its coat of arms. The first decade of the 21st century was dominated by plans to redevelop the St Helen’s estate. These plans resulted in the building of 100 Bishopsgate, a 40–storey development on the corner of Bishopsgate and Camomile Street, and the rebuilding and fitting-out of 5–7 St Helen’s Place as the Company’s seventh Hall in 2012–2016.
THE FIRST DECADE OF THE 21ST CENTURY WAS DOMINATED BY PLANS TO REDEVELOP THE ST HELEN’S ESTATE.
Its major features include a large, central spiral staircase leading down to a subterranean dining hall dominated by a stunning new tapestry designed by Victoria Crowe and made at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. This tapestry, and the new Hall itself, are tangible expressions of an identity formed both by historic precedent and by a responsibility to future generations.
The Reception Room in the current seventh Hall, with its centrepiece, a striking glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly.
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