CITY OF LONDON. Queen Victoria Street/Farringdon Road plans. BUNNING, 1855 map
'Improvements agreed to by the Court of Common Council and referred to by James B Bunning Esq in his evidence of 7th June 1855'. Artist/engraver/cartographer: James B Bunning Esq. James Bunstone Bunning (6 October 1802 in London – 2 November 1863) was an English architect. He held the post of architect to the City of London from 1843 until his death, and is probably best remembered for his design for the Coal Exchange. Provenance: "Report from the Select Committee on Metropolitan Communications; together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence and appendix", order by The House of Commons, to be printed, 23 July 1855, Henry Hansard. Type: Antique map with original colour, prepared for consideration by the British Parliamentary Select Committee on Metropolitan Communication. The Court of Common Council is the City of London's primary decision-making body. The map shows various planned and ongoing changes to the road and building layout of the City of London. Noteably, it shows 1) the proposed construction of Queen Victoria Street which was eventually commissioned in 1861 to streamline the approach to the central banking district. 2) The construction of Farringdon Road (named on the map as Victoria Street), which took almost 20 years between the 1840s and the 1860s, and which is considered one of the greatest urban engineering achievements of the 19th century. Not only was it one of the first engineered multi-lane roads, but it also buried the River Fleet in a system of underground tunnels, solving one of London's most daunting sanitary problems. Its construction also included the building of the world's first stretch of underground railway, part of the Metropolitan Railway running beneath Farringdon Road from King's Cross St. Pancras into the City at Farringdon station. 3) Changes to the layout of Smithfield. The map does not indicate the construction of Holborn Viaduct, built between 1863 and 1869, which was the first flyover in central London.
Size: 7106px × 5814px
Location: London
Photo credit: © Antiqua Print Gallery / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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