Drapers’ Hall

Draper’s Hall was a livery company hall on the north side of Throgmorton Street in Broad Street Ward. On the Agas map, Drapers’ Hall appears as a large house with three round towers, thus resembling the architecture of Hampton Court Palace and some of the college gates at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Stow records that the hall was built by Sir Thomas Cromwell for his own use as a house. The Drapers bought the house from Henry VIII in 1543, the house having passed into the monarch’s possession after Cromwell’s execution in 1540. The hall is described by Stow as very large and spacious (Stow). In subsequent centuries, the hall was rebuilt three times: first, in 1666, the Great Fire destroyed the Tudor hall; second, in 1772, it partially burned again; and third, from 1866 to 1870, the hall of the Hanoverian era was rebuilt (Harben). Drapers’ Hall stands today on the same site.
See also: the website of the Drapers’ Company: History and Heritage.

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