20th Century Gallery

Grasshopper sign JRU01_01_106

Martins Bank, Lombard Street, City of London. Looking east along Great George Street towards Big Ben and Parliament Square, with pedestrians on the pavement in the foreground, photographed 1950-1953.
The sign of the grasshopper was the crest of the Gresham family, and was used to distinguish the house of Thomas Gresham in Lombard Street in the 16th century. Gresham was a financier to Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, and founder of the Royal Exchange. The sign bears Gresham's initials and the date 1563; it is believed he traded at the site from this date. The freehold of the Grasshopper, later numbered 68 Lombard Street, was purchased by John Martin in the 1740s. Martins Bank was demolished and rebuilt in 1930. The bank remained at the site until it merged with Barclays in 1969; the grasshopper was still hung outside 68 Lombard Street into the 21st century. It is believed that 68 Lombard Street is the longest continuous use of business premises as a bank

© Historic England Archive

Master Mariners Almshouses AA41_00139

MASTER MARINERS ALMSHOUSE, CARR LANE, CITY OF KINGSTON UPON HULL. An exterior view of the Master Mariner's Almshouses, damaged in an air raid in 1941, seen from the east with the former Cecil Theatre in the background. The almshouses consisted of two blocks; the first was the Master Mariner's Almshouse, built in 1834, and the second was the Mariners Almshouse, built in 1837. Both blocks were built for the Corporation of the Trinity House and housed retired and ill seamen and their families. The almshouses were damaged in 1941 by bombs, and were demolished post-war. The Theatre in the background was originally built in 1911, on the corner of Anlaby Road and the Ferensway, rebuilt in 1925 and renamed the Cecil Theatre. It also suffered bomb damage in May 1941, but the ruins were not cleared away until 1953

© Historic England Archive