Chartered Accountants' Hall is a Grade II* listed building located at 1 Moorgate Place in the City of London. It is the headquarters of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW). The Hall is one of the richest examples of late Victorian architecture in the City and has been praised for its seamless integration of sculpture.
It established the fame of its architect, John Belcher. Chartered Accountants' Hall was Belcher's first building in a more monumental Baroque Revival style, drawing on Baroque architecture which he had studied while travelling in Europe.
Some sources attribute the building as a joint design by Belcher in conjunction with Arthur Beresford Pite, who was a partner in Belcher's practice. The two men were friends and admired each other's work. A pupil of Belcher's at the time claimed that Pite's energy and personality had "very strongly" influenced Belcher and had left its impression above all on the Chartered Accountants building. In The Alliance of Sculpture and Architecture (1993), the authors begin a discussion of the influence of Pite upon Belcher's new Baroque style for the Hall by stating:
Construction
Between 1880 and 1890, ICAEW was based in 3 Copthall Buildings while a location was sought for a permanent headquarters. During a special meeting in 1888, William Deloitte put forward a motion to purchase the site at Moorgate Place on a 999 year lease at a ground rent of £900 per annum. The competition for designs was won by John Belcher, with an estimated cost of £17,250. The ICAEW Council also commissioned Hamo Thornycroft to produce a sculpted frieze at an additional cost of £3,000.
Construction was delayed as the original contractors went into receivership, the work being completed by Messrs Coll & Sons. In the event, the terms of the lease were altered to £472 for twenty years increasing to £786 thereafter, in return for part of the site being given up to expand Great Swan Alley.
The foundation stone of Chartered Accountants' Hall was laid in July 1890. Under the stone were placed current issues of The Times and The Accountant, a copy of the Institute's Charter and Bye-Laws, a list of members, and examples of the copper and silver (though not gold) coins of the day.
The Hall was formally opened on 10 May 1893 by the Institute President, Edwin Waterhouse. It originally provided 19,500 square feet of accommodation. The final cost came to £41,561 3s 0d, including heating, lighting, ground rents and the architect's commission.
Interior
The building has been described as “one of the few Victorian buildings in the City with interiors worthy of its ornate facades.”
It features a pilastered entrance hall with coffered ceiling after Alessi's Palazzo Cambiaso in Genoa. The substantial former library (now the members' room) has a gallery and balustraded bridge inspired by the Rialto Bridge in Venice. It is believed to be the only example of an indoor bridge in the UK. In August 2022 award-winning British artist Alexander Beleschenko added three new stained glass windows into this room, featuring an arrangement of blue, orange, purple, green and yellow squares and triangles. Beleschenko has written an 'Artist's view' of his creative process for the Architects' Journal, describing the artwork as "a combination of realism and abstraction", inspired by details in the decoration seen elsewhere in the building.
The staircase originally featured stained-glass windows by Henry Holiday, completed in 1898. These were re-installed in 2017, a year ahead of the 125th anniversary of the building's opening, and are now positioned in the entrance to the Great Hall. Holiday's original 1897 watercolour designs for the windows are housed in the Prints, Drawings & Paintings collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The council chamber (now the reception room) has a high domed ceiling and elaborate wall-paintings by George Murray to Belcher's designs, representing the Triumph of the Law and Science bringing Order to Commerce.
Frieze
Thornycroft's frieze depicts groups of figures representing Arts, Sciences, Crafts, Education, Commerce, Manufacture, Agriculture, Mining, Railways, Shipping, India, the Colonies, and Building. The figure of the architect is based on Belcher and the sculptor on Thornycroft himself. The figure of the solicitor is H. Markby of Markby, Stewart & Co., who acted for ICAEW in its early years.
When the Hall was expanded in 1930 the frieze was continued for another 50 feet by on the theme of the history of building. This is represented by British, Italian, Gothic, Byzantine, Roman, Greek, Assyrian, Egyptian and Prehistoric figures.