Part I

Welcome to Tower 42 at 25 Old Broad Street, the international headquarters of the National Westminster bank, known by its trade name as Natwest. We are now in the city of London, amidst towering skyscrapers springing from what was once Londinium: the ancient, fortified Roman settlement that gave birth to London. The City is not only one of the world’s leading financial centres but was also once the heart of the British empire, overseeing its financing in many of Britain’s colonies around the globe.

One of those former colonies¹ is a city on the southeastern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Like London, this coastal city too was born out of a fortified colony, overlooking the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

In this tour, we will walk with two sites located thousands of miles apart and woven across time and space by a common thread: the East India Company.

Behind Paul’s bakery to the left of the building entrance is a ramp that leads to the basement of the building. Hidden away in a corner on the ramp’s right is a blue plaque that reads “In a house on this site lived Sir Thomas Gresham, 1519-1579.”

Walk past Tower 42 and continue down Old Broad Street.

Walk up to the crossroads. The alley with the white canopies that you see on your right on the other side of the road is where you have to be.

Once you have arrived, stand beside the street sign that reads “1 Royal Exchange Buildings”.

Play the next audio when you’re ready.

¹Raman, Bhavani. "Sovereignty, Property and Land Development: The East India Company in Madras", Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 61, 5-6 (2018): 976-1004, doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341472

Detours: OSTERLEY PARK

Audio-walks in Hounslow and the City, London

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© 2024 Tejesvini Saranga Ravi MA Situated Practice Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL tejesvini.ravi.23@alumni.ucl.ac.uk

© 2024 Tejesvini Saranga Ravi
MA Situated Practice
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
tejesvini.ravi.23@alumni.ucl.ac.uk