Chartered Accountants' Hall

Chartered Accountants' Hall
Middlesex
Chartered Accountants' Hall in Moorgate Place
Type:	Livery hall
Location
Grid reference:	TQ32748144
Location:	51°30’59"N, 0°5’18"W
City:	London
History
Address:	One Moorgate Place
	Built 1893
By:	John Belcher
	Livery hall
	Neo-Baroque / brutalist
Information
Owned by:	Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
Website:	accountantslivery.org/hall

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 and Wales and since 1977 has also been the guildhall of the 'Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales', known as the Chartered Accountants' Company, one of the livery companies of the City of London and one which is intimately connected with the Institute.

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.

The company

The Chartered Accountants' Company is a young institution: the hall had been standing for 84 years before it was created as an unincorporated Guild in 1975. The Company became a Livery Company of the City in April 1977, with Ordinances approved by the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, being 86th in the historic order of precedence of Livery Companies. On 6th September 2012, the 'Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales' was incorporated by a Royal Charter granted by Her Majesty The Queen.

The hall

The hall 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: "To what extent the design was the work of Arthur Beresford Pite [...] has never been satisfactorily established."

Construction

Between 1880 and 1890, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales 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 Institute's 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 Royal 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 in 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 former library, now a members' room

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 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 United Kingdom.

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 J.A. Stevenson on the theme of the history of building. This is represented by British, Italian, Gothic, Byzantine, Roman, Greek, Assyrian, Egyptian and Prehistoric figures.

For the Whitfield extension in the 1960s, David McFall completed three final panels. These depict Egyptians and the foundation of accounting, 19th century men as the founding fathers of the Institute, and four Renaissance figures including Luca Pacioli, the first person to publish a work on double-entry bookkeeping.

First extension

As Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales expanded after the First World War, it became necessary to extend the original building. In 1926 the Institute purchased Swan House on the adjoining land. J.J. Joass, a pupil of Belcher's, was commissioned to extend the building eastwards and provide an additional 5,000 square feet for meeting rooms and offices. The final cost of the extension came to £35,976 9s. 6d.

Second extension

In 1957 the Society of Incorporated Accountants was integrated into the national bodies of accountants, boosting the Institute's membership by 10,000. William Whitfield was commissioned in 1959 to report on the feasibility of a new building. It was decided to extend the existing building substantially and create a Great Hall to accommodate functions, large meetings and other events. Final designs were accepted in 1964 and the new headquarters was opened by HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in May 1970.

Unusually for a space of this size, Whitfield's Great Hall is uninterrupted by any supporting columns. Instead the office floors above are supported by exterior concrete piers. The rough plaster relief finish that covers the walls is by Cathy Ward and is known as 'Elephant Trunking' as it was first used on the Elephant House at London Zoo.

Of the building as a whole, Nikolaus Pevsner noted that: "here is proof, if proof were needed, that the uncompromisingly new can go with the old, if handled by an appreciative and imaginative architect." The two extensions - Joass's complementary extension juxtaposed with Whitfield's Brutalist bush-hammered concrete - help contribute to Chartered Accountants' Hall being designated a Grade II* listed building. The extension was awarded a Certificate of Commendation by The Concrete Society in 1971.

The total cost of the new building came to almost £2.5 million and added 63,000 square feet of space. The improvements included a new set of offices for the library and a members' restaurant. It was at this point that the council chamber became the reception room, the old library became the members' room, and the Oak Hall was divided horizontally into a new council chamber and a set of interview rooms.

Ornaments and furnishings

Institute possesses numerous antique furnishings and works of art gifted by individuals or accountancy bodies, including several given to celebrate the centenary in 1980.

The walls of the Hall feature portraits of the Institute's first presidents, including William Barclay Peat and William Welch Deloitte. A tapestry by Eduardo Paolozzi, depicting modern innovations such as a jet engine, a microchip and a television, hangs in the eastern entrance. The Hall owns a set of silverware by Gerald Benney and paintings by John Piper. The library's rare book collection holds early works on accounting and bookkeeping, including the complete published works of Luca Pacioli , and the only complete copy of the oldest surviving original book on accounting in English (James Peele's 'The maner and fourme how to kepe a perfecte reconying').

Facilities

In addition to functioning as the administrative headquarters of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, Chartered Accountants' Hall offers business and social facilities to its members and the general public. These include a café, a members' club, a lending library and a business centre.