Mansion House

Story

Mansion House is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London.It is used for some of the City of London's official functions, including two annual White Tie dinners, hosted by the Lord Mayor. At the Easter banquet, the main speaker is the Foreign Secretary, who then receives a reply from the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps who, as of December 2016, is the Ambassador of Kuwait in London. In early June, it is the turn of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to give his "Mansion House Speech" about the state of the British economy. It is a Grade I listed building.HistoryMansion House was built between 1739 and 1752, in the then fashionable Palladian style by the surveyor and architect George Dance the Elder. The site, at the east end of Poultry, had previously been occupied by the "Stocks Market", which by the time of its closure was mostly used for the sale of herbs. The construction was prompted by a wish to put an end to the inconvenient practice of lodging the Lord Mayor in one of the City Halls. Dance won a competition over designs solicited from James Gibbs and Giacomo Leoni, and uninvited submissions by Batty Langley and Isaac Ware. Construction was slowed by the discovery of springs on the site, which meant piles had to be sunk to form the foundations.