MADAM – Re: the article by Laura Chesters concerning the future of the Silver Vaults (ATG No 2330). Just to correct a small point – that the Chancery Lane Safe Deposit was opened by the Lord Mayor in May 1885 and not in 1876. For some reason, 1876 as an opening date is online and often repeated [including on the Silver Vaults website] but is entirely incorrect.
The building was hit by a bomb in the First World War and, as your article said, severely damaged in a raid during the Second World War, although only the upper parts of the Safe Deposit were destroyed. The new building, designed by the firm of Richardson and Gill [Sir Albert Edward Richardson] is a much more interesting structure than its appearance currently allows.
Peter Cameron, Vaults 54-57.