A local’s guide to visiting the Tivoli Corner, one of the best hidden gems in the City of London, with a beautiful Neoclassical architectural style!
Tivoli Corner is one of those historical sites with magnificent architecture that I discovered while walking through the City of London, a beautiful neighborhood I never stop telling you about.
You can find many historical sites in the City of London, like the Royal Exchange, Temple Church, or even Fleet Street and Lincoln’s Inn Chapel.
The area is home to Bank station on the Central Line, one of the busiest lines in the London Underground.
And there you find Tivoli Corner, a rounded architectural corner designed by none other than Sir John Soane, whom I mentioned recently along with his secret free museum in Holborn, the Sir John Soane’s Museum.
City of London’s Tivoli Corner, a Neoclassical Hidden Gem
Tivoli Corner was designed by Sir John Soane, an eccentric genius of Regency architecture, between 1804 and 1806.
It is located at the northwest corner of the Bank of England, at the junction of Lothbury and Princes Street, right in the middle of the City of London with all its banks and aesthetic buildings, the vast majority of which are neoclassical or Italianate.
Workers in the City or even tourists pass by without really paying attention to Tivoli Corner, and yet, historically, it has its importance.
In terms of design, it is a monopteros, a circular colonnade made of Corinthian columns – and it was modeled precisely on the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy.
I think what makes this historical monument so important and dear to my heart is mainly that I lived in Rome, and I still consider myself a resident there in spirit, even if I am currently in Paris.
I have been to Tivoli many times to visit its magnificent villas, and I admired the Temple of Vesta there, which Soane sketched during his Grand Tour in 1779.
Tivoli Corner, now, is part of the Bank of England.
What makes it so historically significant is that when Soane’s work was demolished in the 1920s to make way for a larger building, Tivoli Corner was one of the only elements of Soane’s that was saved and integrated into the new structure.
In an equally interesting way, you can see other elements of a now-demolished City of London building near the Strand and Trafalgar Square – specifically the sculpted female busts at Milford Lane.
London is full of these magnificent ruins that stand out from buildings where you can admire views of London like Horizon 22 or the Sky Garden.
These ruins are a testament to the evolution of London, before we knew it for its instagrammable cafes and the shops of Oxford Street.
Tivoli Corner, in its early days just like today, was simply Soane’s solution for a dead corner with no real function – that is how this decorative temple was installed.
It is also a reflection of Soane’s obsession with beautiful ruins; he even commissioned a famous painting at one point showing his Bank of England as a future ruin like the Roman Forum.
It is in Tivoli Corner that we find this philosophy, which brought the eternal ruins of Rome into the financial capital.
Around the open roof, is engraved: The Bank made this way through Tivoli Corner for the citizens of London AD 1936.
Tivoli Corner London Photo Gallery
City of London’s Tivoli Corner, a Neoclassical Hidden Gem
Once you have finished walking around and inside Tivoli Corner, you will find a myriad of historical and otherwise magnificent sites nearby.
For example, the ruins of St Dunstan in the East, St Alphage or Christchurch Greyfriars, the Victorian Leadenhall Market and its secret ruins inside a barbershop, or even the Garden at 120, a free rooftop garden, and the Royal Exchange.
If you want to get closer to the Thames, you will also find an incredible concept store at Oxo Tower called Brand Academy, as well as the Tate Museum, a free museum with magnificent collections.
Or, for even more history, you can also visit other cheap and free museums such as the Horniman Museum, the Museum of the Home, or even the Ragged School Museum in Mile End!
Tivoli Corner London
Address: Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, City of London
Website: Soane