The Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, City of London: oculus of the dome at Tivoli Corner

NOTES: This photograph comes from the Francis William Troup archive held at the RIBA Library. Troup was a consultant architect to the Bank of England and prepared designs for the rebuilding of the Threadneedle site in 1920. The commission was given to Sir Herbert Baker in 1921 with whom Troup worked initially as supervising architect. Tivoli Corner, built in 1804-1807, is at the rear of the building on the north-west corner at Prince's Street and Lothbury. It is a surviving feature, albeit modified, of Soane's Bank, built in 1788-1827, which was drastically reconstructed and heightened by Sir Herbert Baker in 1921-1939. Although Baker promised to preserve this feature, he removed the attic behind the cornice and opened out the space within the columns as a pedestrian passage top-lit by a simple oculus in a shallow stone dome.