View of Barclays Bank, 448-449 Strand, City of Westminster (north side). A major thoroughfare, the Strand runs east to west from Trafalgar Square to Temple Bar. Named from the Old English ‘strond’, meaning the edge of a river, as before modern embankments and land reclamation it ran alongside the north bank of the River Thames. Part of a triangular island block of shops and offices between the Strand, Adelaide Street and William IV Street (formerly King William Street). Built in 1830-32 as part of the West Strand Improvements, planned by architect John Nash and executed by William Herbert. Number 448-449, occupied by Barclays Bank, has circular corner pavilions, known as "pepper pots", with three storeys, an attic with a balustrade, and cast-iron balconies around the first floor. In the nineteenth century this was the office of The West Strand Telegraph Company, the 'Central Station' of the Electric Telegraph Company, which was established in 1846 to connect major cities and towns by electric telegraph.
