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Lot Essay
The first Royal Exchange was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. The second was also burnt down on 10 February 1838. Eleven months after the 1838 fire the Grand Committee of the Corporation and the Mercers' Company decided that plans and designs for a new Royal Exchange should be invited by open competition. Thirty-eight entries were received, a rule of the competition being that all should be anonymous. However despite this, those of T.L. Donaldson, J.B. Bunting, C.R. Cockrell, J.D. Paine, W. Granville and Chateauneuf and Mee have been identified.
Chateauneuf and Mee's design was recorded in a lithograph showing the exterior of their proposed building from the South-West. No companion lithograph of the interior was published. Though one cannot be certain, it is possible that this architectural perspective represents a drawing for the interior. At a late stage William Tite was brought in as an advisor and then as a competitor. His designs were chosen by thirteen votes to seventeen and his building opened by Queen Victoria on 28 October 1844.
Chateauneuf and Mee's design was recorded in a lithograph showing the exterior of their proposed building from the South-West. No companion lithograph of the interior was published. Though one cannot be certain, it is possible that this architectural perspective represents a drawing for the interior. At a late stage William Tite was brought in as an advisor and then as a competitor. His designs were chosen by thirteen votes to seventeen and his building opened by Queen Victoria on 28 October 1844.