RESTORATION OF GUILDHALL

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27498, 4 November 1954, Page 11

RESTORATION OF GUILDHALL

DAMAGE IN BLITZ REPAIRED (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, November 1. The City of London’s ancient fifteenth -century Guildhall, gutted by Hirer’s bombs in the blitz of London 14 years ago, soon will again witness the glittering pageantry of great State occasions. At a press conference today, Sir Giles Scott, the architect, described the, completed work of restoration carried out on the magnificent chamber iri which Lord Mayors and city corporations have for centuries honoured kings and presidents, statesmen, and heroes. Workmen and craftsmen have laboured for a year to make the hall ready in time for next week’s Lord Mayor’s banquet, when a hew Lord Mayor will take over the highest civic appointment in the Commonwealth. The work, costing an estimated £275,000. has included the building of a new oak roof over the scorched and battered shell that was left after the bombing raid on December 29, 1940. For this, stone arches have been introduced to replace the Victorian hammer beam roof destroyed by the bombs. It is the fourth roof to be erected on the Guildhall's old medieval walls.

New stained glass windows have been fitted, patterned with scrolls bearing the names of more than 600 Lord Mayors who have held office in the city’s long, eventful history.