2, Royal Exchange Buildings EC3 is a Grade II listed building in the City of London local planning authority area, England. First listed on 15 August 1997. Office block. 18 related planning applications.
2, Royal Exchange Buildings EC3
- WRENN ID
- hidden-cornice-barley
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- City of London
- Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 15 August 1997
- Type
- Office block
- Address
- 2, Royal Exchange Buildings EC3, City and County of the City of London, EC3V 3LF
- OS grid reference
- TQ 328 811
- Coordinates
- 51.51361, -0.08632
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
No. 2 Royal Exchange Buildings is an office block built between 1907 and 1910, designed by Sir Ernest George and Yates, with carving by Albert Hodge. The building is constructed of stone and features a mansard roof made of metal with dormers. It stands four storeys tall, with an attic over a basement, and has a twelve-window range with a three-window range on the left return. To the right, there is a curved corner followed by a four-window range facing Cornhill. The left corner returns at an acute angle, while the right corner is at an oblique angle.
All ground-floor windows are round-arched, while other openings are flat-arched unless noted otherwise. The entrances are located in the fourth and tenth window ranges, featuring architraves designed as guilloche bands and overlights with decorative grilles. The ground floor and first floor have alternately rusticated blocks, with the first floor appearing as a kind of mezzanine, creating a monumental base for the upper floors.
The second and third floors in the entrance ranges have round-arched recesses flanked by attached Tuscan columns that support a raking cornice pediment. The tympanum of this pediment is adorned with garlands and a cartouche in very high relief, and there is a second-floor balcony in the recess supported by broad acanthus brackets. The remaining window ranges on the upper floors are grouped together under a two-storey architrave decorated with panels, scrolls, and armorial shields featuring anchors, shields, and portcullises.
The curved corner range facing Cornhill has rusticated blocks and a shield, repeating the bay system described earlier, and includes one entrance. The elevation facing Royal Exchange Avenue is identical, except for the centre range of the second and third floors, which features a two-storey aedicule with superposed Tuscan and Composite attached columns. The roof has tripartite dormers on the southern half, and the basement windows are grilles, with the centre formed by four clasped hands. The building's elevations have a strong sculptural presence that stands out against the bold, overscaled motifs of the Royal Exchange.
Local climate
2, Royal Exchange Buildings EC3 sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 18 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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