Temple Bar

After the Great Fire of London in 1666, famed architect Sir Christopher Wren devoted a large part of his time and effort to rebuilding the city. Most famously, Wren rebuilt St. Paul’s Cathedral as well as 52 smaller churches within London. However, he also built eight new arched gateways into the city. 

Temple Bar is the last of Wren’s gateways still standing. The gate is currently located just north of St. Paul’s Cathedral, but it was originally constructed about 850 meters to the west where the Strand from Westminster connects with Fleet Street within the City of London (and where the Temple Bar Memorial currently stands). 

The history of how it reached its current position is quite complicated. Temple Bar originally replaced a medieval wooden archway—also called Temple Bar—that had stood at the west entrance to the City of London for a few centuries. The new Temple Bar was built using Portland stone, with its construction completed in 1672. A small room was hidden atop the lavishly decorated archway.

The structure instantly became a well-recognized entryway into the City of London, but over time, it also became an obstacle to traffic, so in 1878, Temple Bar was dismantled. Soon after this, it was purchased by the wealthy brewer Sir Henry Meux and his wife Valerie Meux and reassembled on their estate in Theobalds Park in Hertfordshire. Unfortunately, it was not well maintained after Valerie Meux passed away and began to crumble.

In 1974, the Temple Bar Trust was founded within the City of London to bring Temple Bar back into the city, but this process proceeded very slowly. After a substantial amount of campaigning, negotiating, and work, the arch was reconstructed in 2004 to the southern side of the redeveloped area around Paternoster Square, which is just north of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Temple Bar today is now home to the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects, one of the modern-day livery companies in London (which are modern professional organizations that can trace their lineage to London’s medieval guilds). The room inside Temple Bar is now used as a multipurpose space for meetings, talks, and even dinners, and the Temple Bar Trust also organizes various educational activities involving the gateway itself.