Description
New Change Buildings, demolished in 2007, were built in 1953-60 for the Bank of England with a formal sunken garden facing Bread Street with C18th style fountains and lawns, crossed by a causeway leading to an internal central courtyard with a fountain, planting and C18th style lead cisterns. Bread Street was part of the City's market area, and was the site of the first C15th Hall of the Worshipful Company of Salters. The building was demolished in 2007 and the new scheme by Jean Nouvel was completed in 2010, with new pedestrian routes and public access to a rooftop plaza.
Practical Information
| Previously known as | Bank of England Clearing House; Bread Street Gardens |
|---|---|
| Site location | New Change/Bread Street |
| Postcode | EC4M 9AD |
| What3Words | ///tuck.tins.needed |
| Type of Site | Private Open Land |
| Borough | City of London |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | Roof terrace opens 10am till late (check individual shops) |
| Public Transport | Tube: Mansion House (District, Circle) |
| Research Updated | 1 December 2010 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
New Change Buildings were built by the Corporation of London in 1953-60 to designs of architect Victor Heal in traditional rather than modernist style. This reflected prevailing opinion in the Corporation that sought to preserve the setting of St Paul's Cathedral in the post-war reconstruction through classically-conceived architectural form that soon appeared regressive. The first tenants were the newly-nationalised Bank of England. Facing Newgate Street, the symmetrical façade was planned to overlook a grand square with views of St Paul's Cathedral, but this scheme, advocated in plans of 1941 and 1947, was later abandoned. The central courtyard, described as 'disastrously bleak' by Nikolaus Pevsner, had a plain fountain, some planting and a number of reproduction C18th-style lead cisterns, the area later largely used for cars and parking. Facing Bread Street was a formal sunken garden designed by Ernest Gillick that was formed in two parts of unequal size crossed by a causeway leading to the internal courtyard. Each part had lawns and a series of C18th style fountains, the central one in the larger garden area having a female figure dated 1959 by Ernest Gillick. The name of Bread Street recalls its function as part of the City's market area, and it was the site of the first Hall of the Worshipful Company of Salters (c.1475), which later moved to its present site on London Wall where it has a garden, Salters' Garden (q.v.).
In 2006, redevelopment plans for the site by Land Securities were approved and in 2007 demolition of New Change Buildings began. The new scheme, known as One New Change, was completed in December 2010, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, working with Sidell Gibson as executive architects. Nouvel was selected through a design competition in 2003 and this is his first building in the City of London. The scheme includes the insertion of a pedestrian route that provides a new vista of the Cathedral, passing through the retail-lined ground floor from New Change to Bread Street, which is crossed by a second pedestrian route from Cheapside to Watling Street. In the centre where the two routes meet a lift provides public access to a new rooftop plaza.
In 2006, redevelopment plans for the site by Land Securities were approved and in 2007 demolition of New Change Buildings began. The new scheme, known as One New Change, was completed in December 2010, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, working with Sidell Gibson as executive architects. Nouvel was selected through a design competition in 2003 and this is his first building in the City of London. The scheme includes the insertion of a pedestrian route that provides a new vista of the Cathedral, passing through the retail-lined ground floor from New Change to Bread Street, which is crossed by a second pedestrian route from Cheapside to Watling Street. In the centre where the two routes meet a lift provides public access to a new rooftop plaza.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ321811 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | Land Securities |
| Site Management | Land Securities |
| Dates | 1953-60; 2005-10 |
| Designers | 1953-60: Ernest Gillick (landscape architect); Victor Heal (architect); 2005-10 Jean Nouvel |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | City of London |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
| Other LA Designation | Strategic Viewing Corridor |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
The Reflection Garden at 25 Cannon Street was designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and opened on 7 July 2022. It replaced an earlier garden, which had comprised an area of lawn with a perimeter path surrounded by shrubbery and trees. An earlier post-war building was demolished and replaced in 2000, itself substantially refurbished and replaced in 2020 by the current office building. The new public garden has a reflection pool as its focal point, which mirrors the sky and the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. On top of the new building is a private rooftop garden planted in raised beds, using herbaceous plants and grasses.
The garden is on the site of the medieval church of St Peter Cheap, also called West Cheap, which burnt down in the Great Fire in 1666 and was not rebuilt, the parish joining that of St Matthew Friday Street. There was a market in this area from early times, 'cheap' being the Anglo-Saxon word for market. Three gravestones survive set into remnants of the wall, including a stone tablet of 1687, and the railings on the boundary with Wood Street date from 1712, with an inset plaque of St Peter. The churchyard was laid out as a public garden in the C19th and has a large plane tree that William Wordsworth referred to in his poem, 'The Reverie of Poor Susan'. Overlooked on three sides, the sheltered garden is largely paved, and has seats and a number of low raised beds, each now planted with a tree fern in recent years.
The Festival Gardens were laid out in 1951 by Sir Albert Richardson for the Corporation of London's contribution to the Festival of Britain. The layout, which followed the ground plan of pre-war buildings destroyed as a result of WWII bombing, consisted of a sunken lawn with a wall fountain, donated by the Worshipful Company of Gardeners, surrounded by a raised paved terrace with stone parapets and seating, planting in tubs and a number of trees including a lime hedge. Georg Ehrlich's sculpture 'The Young Lovers' was purchased by the Corporation and installed in the gardens in 1969. The circular Festival Information Kiosk that was originally sited here was re-erected in nearby Carter Lane Garden in 1955, but since removed.
