The Birmingham and Midland Bank was founded by
Charles Geach in
Birmingham in 1836. In under a century, through a long series of amalgamations, and the establishment of a successful overseas business, it had become the largest bank in the world. Renamed the Midland Bank in 1923, in 1924 it commissioned a new headquarters building on
Poultry in the
City of London. The architect was
Edwin Lutyens. The first building was completed by 1929, but Lutyens returned to undertake a major expansion between 1935 and 1937. Following the Midland's financial decline in the late 20th century, it was absorbed into
HSBC in 1992 The building's restoration, a partnership between
Soho House and the Sydell Hotels Group, has drawn praise from both architectural critics and travel writers. Lutyens' connection to the Midland Bank came through
Reginald McKenna, a senior politician who became the bank's chairman in 1919. McKenna was married to a niece of
Gertrude Jekyll, Lutyens' long-time collaborator, and Lutyens had been commissioned to design the McKenna's London townhouse,
Mulberry House, in
Smith Square in 1912. ==Footnotes==