DESCRIPTION

The ambition of all City companies was to own a hall, and the Stationers were no exception. The tradition is that they had a hall in Milk Street, but nothing is known about it. By about 1554 they had bought Peter's College, which had belonged to St Paul's. It stood immediately to the east of the Deanery at the point where Ludgate Hill opened into the churchyard on the south side. By the end of the 16th century, however, it was found to be too small for the expanding Company and in 1606 the Stationers purchased for £3,500 Abergavenny House on the site of the present Hall.

 

The Hall today is one of the most beautiful in London in spite of serious damage caused by enemy action in 1940. The Court Room was partially destroyed but was restored by 1957, and the ceiling of the Livery Hall had to be re-erected to a design of 1800. Generations of Stationers have adorned the buildings to add to their interest.