Guildhall
From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Cheapside near Bank. It has been used as the town hall for several hundred years.
The current building is believed to be on the site of an earlier Guildhall, and has large medivial crypts underneath. During the Roman period it was the site of an amphitheatre, the largest in Britannia.
Parts of the current building date from 1411 and it is the only stone building not belonging to the Church to have survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the ages.
The Great Hall did not completely escape damage in 1666, and was partially restored - with a flat roof - in 1670. A more thorough restoration was completed in 1866 by City of London Architect Sir Horace Jones who added a new timber roof in close keeping with the original (sadly, this replacement was destroyed during an air raid in 1940 and had to be replaced in 1954 during works designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott).
The day-to-day administration of the Corporation of London has long since moved elsewhere, but the building is still used for ceremonial purposes such as banquets.
