| Code | DS/UK/567 |
| Surname | Baker |
| Forenames | Herbert |
| Title | Sir |
| Dates | 1862-1946 |
| Epithet | Architect |
| Activity | Baker was born on 9 June 1862 at Owletts, Cobham, Kent, the fourth of the eleven children of Thomas Henry Baker (1824–1904), gentleman farmer and JP, and his wife, Frances Georgina (d. 1916). After a rural childhood at Owletts and a public school education, Baker trained as an architect in London. He designed major government buildings in South Africa, India, Rhodesia, and Kenya, as well as imperial works in London and Oxford. Baker was also an accomplished domestic architect, the designer of several war memorials, and the rebuilder of the Bank of England.
Between 1925 and 1939 he demolished what had become known as 'The Old Bank' or 'Soane's Bank' (then regarded as one of London's architectural gems) and built a new headquarters for the Bank on the same 3 ½ acre Theadneedle Street site. The 'Old Bank' had been in the main no more than three storeys high; Baker's new building rose seven storeys above ground and dropped three below to accommodate the extra staff required to tackle the Bank's rapidly increasing volume of work and responsibilities.
The papers of Sir Herbert Baker may be found at the RIBA Archive. |
| Source | - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Information on Bank of England Museum website: |
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