Charterhouse Street
51°31′08.76″N 0°06′13.02″W / 51.5191000°N 0.1036167°W Charterhouse Street is a street on the north side of Smithfield in the City of London. The road forms part of the City’s boundary with the neighbouring London Boroughs of Islington and Camden. It connects Charterhouse Square and Holborn Circus, crossing Farringdon Road and running along a number of historical sites, including Smithfield Market.
The nearest London Underground stations are Barbican near the east end of Charterhouse Street and Farringdon further west. Farringdon station also provides a connection to Crossrail and Thameslink rail services.
Notable buildings
Current
Several gastropubs line the street, including the Fox and Anchor. The formerly-DJ Mag #1 club Fabric nightclub is located at No. 77A.
Charterhouse Street is also the home of a 31 MWe combined heat and power plant operated by Citigen[1] (E.ON) and located within and beneath the former PLA cold store.[2]
Anglia Ruskin University has a campus in Charterhouse Street 19.[3]
De Beers
International diamond corporation De Beers has been headquartered at No. 17 since 1979, except between 2017-2020, though the street has homed De Beers since the 1930s. According to Bloomberg News, at the height of its power, over ninety per cent of the world's rough diamonds were held in the building, and by 2016, it housed over US$5 billion (£3.89 billion, equivalent to £5.16 billion in 2023) worth of gems in its underground vaults.[4] After moving to Carlton House Terrace in 2017, plans to sell the building were proposed.[5] The building was leased back on a long-term deal, with the intention that both De Beers and its parent company, Anglo American plc, would move into the building by 2020.[6] Following renovations by London architecture and design firm MCM, Anglo made No. 17 its global headquarters in 2021.[7]
Smithfield Market
The 19th century Grade II listed Smithfield Market, designed by Victorian architect Sir Horace Jones, is the dominant architectural feature of the area.[8] The market, along with Billingsgate Fish Market and New Spitalfields Market are expected to move to a new consolidated site in Dagenham Dock.[9] The Museum of London plans to move into the General Market Building on Smithfield when possible,[10] vacating its nearby Barbican site in December 2022.[11]
Previous tenants
The street was formerly home to several refrigerated warehouses serving Smithfield Meat Market including the Central Cold Store, the Metropolitan Cold Stores at 77A and Port of London Authority Cold Store. The site on the corner of Farringdon Road was occupied by the 1960s Caxton House which was demolished in 2009 as part of the Farringdon station extension. [12]
References
- ^ "Edina 8.6MW CHP powers London, Citigen, district heating scheme". Edina. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
- ^ "Citigen - City of London". E.ON plc. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
- ^ "Locations". ARU London. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
- ^ Biesheuvel, Thomas (23 March 2017). "Where De Beers Hid Its $5 Billion Diamond Stash". Bloomberg Europe Edition. Bloomberg News. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ Biesheuvel, Thomas (22 April 2016). "Anglo Tells De Beers Staff It's Selling Their Historic HQ". Bloomberg Europe Edition. Bloomberg News. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ Bourke, Joanna (24 August 2017). "Anglo American and De Beers submit plans for sparkly London headquarters". Evening Standard. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ "17 Charterhouse Street". MCM. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ "History of Smithfield Market - City of London". www.cityoflondon.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
- ^ Tobin, Olivia (28 April 2019). "Historic Smithfield Market to move as preferred new location revealed". www.standard.co.uk.
- ^ Dubois, Anna; Prynn, Jonathan (27 March 2015). "Museum of London going ahead with £70m move to Smithfield". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ MoL official website - accessed June 17 2022 https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/west-smithfield/relocation-west-smithfield
- ^ Caxton House demolition "Clerkenwell Liberal Democrats | the Clerkenwell Festival of Demolition". Archived from the original on 9 October 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2012.