After 349 years, the Monument may finally get somewhere to explain itself

Three hundred and eleven steps, a view of the City, and — at the bottom — a ticket desk. For a column built to commemorate the fire that destroyed four fifths of London, the Monument has never had room to say very much about it.

What is proposed

The building next door is Faryners House at 25 Monument Street, a brutalist office block by Richard Seifert built in 1971–3. It is to be demolished and replaced, and the City of London Corporation describes the replacement as 13,338 sqm of flexible office floorspace «alongside a new cultural and visitor centre».

That centre is where the Monument’s exhibition would go: a display about the Great Fire of London and its aftermath, and — inevitably, and not unwelcome after 311 steps — a café.

The name is not a coincidence

Faryners House is named for Thomas Farriner, the baker in Pudding Lane whose premises the fire began in on 2 September 1666, and who was accused of starting it without the charge ever being fully proven. A 1970s office block named after him is to be replaced by a building that will house the exhibition explaining what happened. There are worse ways for a street to keep its own accounts.

What was dropped

An earlier and smaller plan would have turned a redundant toilet block beside the Monument into a mini-museum. That has been cancelled and the toilets are to be demolished instead — though replacements could be provided inside the new centre, which on balance leaves the corner of Fish Street Hill better off than it was.

How firm is any of this

Not very, yet, and it is worth saying so plainly. The office scheme has the Corporation’s approval; the visitor centre depends on final agreements that have not been signed. Main construction is expected to begin in about a year, which puts the exhibition itself several years out.