Page 192 [192]
OCR
170 COMMERCE ment will make an otherwise ugly design ornamental. The two banks next to it—that of Messrs. Gosling, with the three squirrels in the window, and that of Messrs. Hoare, with its golden bottle—are very plain ; but nearly opposite to them the Law Courts branch of the Bank of England forms a striking feature in the view along Fleet Street, It is by Sir Arthur Blomfield, and resembles a little too much an Italian country villa, not having the plain dignity suitable for a town house. The chief banks are in and near Lombard Street; but though a good many of them have been _ recently rebuilt, their style, which might have made this ancient thoroughfare into a street of palaces, comparable to Pall Mall or the Via Nuova in Genoa, has only succeeded in disfiguring it. The chief offenders, IN my opinion at least, are among the most costly, as, for example, the block in which Messrs. Kobarts bank is Situate, that which contains the Credit Lyonnais, and the new buildings of the
