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Goldsmiths’ Hall
Since 1339 a hall has stood in this location
A fantastic opportunity to dine at Goldsmiths’ Hall for the WCI’s 2025 Installation Dinner. The program shared this informative background on the hall.
About the Hall
Positioned at the junction of Foster Lane and Gresham Street in the City of London, is the third Goldsmiths’ Hall. Completed in 1835 and constructed on the site which has been home to the Goldsmiths’ Company since 1339. In 1339 nineteen goldsmiths bought a property in Foster Lane for the use of the Goldsmiths’ Company. Though extended in area, this is the identical site on which Goldsmiths’ Hall stands today. No other Livery Company can claim a longer or earlier tenure.
The Goldsmiths’ Company received its first royal charter in 1327 recognising its already established position in the regulation of the standards of gold and silver wares and the right to elect Wardens to enforce authority. It then took a bold step in deciding to set up a headquarters, its own ‘common-place’, an expensive and complicated business because at that time it was an unincorporated body.
The chosen property lay near the ‘Goldsmithery’ or goldsmiths’ area, at the north end of Foster Lane in the parish of St John Zachary. It had formerly belonged to Sir Nicholas de Segrave, brother of the…
