The building thus entitled is an immense and very extensive stone
edifice, situated a little to the north-west of Cornhill. Until 1825,
this edifice exhibited a great variety of incongruous styles of
architecture; but endeavors have since been made, and with success, to
produce more uniformity of appearance. On the east side of the principal
entrance, is a passage leading to a spacious apartment called the
rotunda, fifty-seven feet in diameter, in which business in the public
funds is transacted; and, branching out of this apartment, are various
offices appropriated to the management of each particular stock. In each
of these, under the several letters of the alphabet, are arrayed the
books in which the amount of every individual’s interest in such a fund
is registered.
The bank of England covers an extent of more than eight acres, and is
completely insulated. Its shape is that of an irregular parallelogram,
the longest side of which measures four hundred and forty feet. Its
exterior is not unsuitable to the nature of the establishment, conveying
the idea of great strength and security. In the interior, a variety of
alterations and improvements have been made to accommodate the vast
increase of business and of the paper money and discounting systems.
This has required considerable enlargements of the offices in every
department, and has led, in the space of thirty or forty years, to the
increase of the clerks from two hundred to about eleven hundred. The
capital, or stock, also, of this grand national establishment, has been
considerably and progressively augmented, until, from twelve hundred
thousand pounds, it has risen to eleven million, six hundred and
forty-seven thousand, seven hundred and fifty pounds, or nearly sixty
million dollars. The direction is vested in a governor, deputy-governor,
and twenty-four directors, all elected annually; and thirteen of the
directors, with the governor, form a court for the management of the
business of the institution.