Category: Trinity Square, London

Trinity Square, London

The Trinity House was incorporated by a charter granted by Henry VIII in 1514. It is the general lighthouse authority for England, Wales and the Channel Islands, a deep sea pilotage authority. It also administers charitable funds mostly connected with seafarers.
Trinity House started at Deptford before a couple of moves during the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1660, Trinity House moved to Water Lane, off Eastcheap. This building was destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire of London, and rebuilt in the same location. Another fire (in 1715) destroyed the building again and it moved to its present location in 1795. The foundation stone was laid in September 1793 by the Prime Minister – William Pitt the Younger.
Trinity House was gutted in 1940 when a German incendiary bomb lodged in the roof of the stairwell. Nothing of the original building survived, except the Trinity Square façade (see above). It was reconstructed using photographs taken from a 1919 edition of Country Life magazine. This photograph was taken in 1943 and shows a Home Guard parade.
Trinity House is Grade I listed, and was refurbished and redecorated in March 1990 – in keeping (where possible) with the 1790s period.
Image: Museum of London, Port of London Authority (1943)
Trinity House is now (October 2021) the 5-star Four Seasons Hotel.
Image: © Steven Miell (TimeViews)
A merged version of the two photographs. Use the slider in the centre.