Charterhouse Street is a street on the north side of Smithfield in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. The road forms part of the City’s boundary with the neighbouring London Boroughs of

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

and Camden. It connects Charterhouse Square and Holborn Circus, crossing Farringdon Road and running along a number of historical sites, including Smithfield Market. The nearest

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

stations are Barbican near the east end of Charterhouse Street and Farringdon further west. Farringdon station also provides a connection to

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

and

Thameslink Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from , , , , , and via central London to , , , Rainham, , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than ...

rail services.

Notable buildings

Current

Several gastropubs line the street, including the Fox and Anchor. The formerly- DJ Mag #1 club

Fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

nightclub is located at No. 77A. Charterhouse Street is also the home of a 31 MWe combined heat and power plant operated by Citigen ( E.ON) and located within and beneath the former PLA cold store. Anglia Ruskin University has a campus in Charterhouse Street 19.

De Beers

International diamond corporation De Beers has been headquartered at No. 17 since 1979, except between 2017-2020, though the street has homed De Beers since the 1930s. According to

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, at the height of its power, over ninety per cent of the world's rough diamonds were held in the building, and by 2016, it housed over US$5 billion (£ billion, equivalent to £ billion in ) worth of gems in its underground vaults. After moving to

Carlton House Terrace Carlton House Terrace is a street in the St James's district of the City of Westminster in London. Its principal architectural feature is a pair of terraces, the Western and Eastern terraces, of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of ...

in 2017, plans to sell the building were proposed. The building was leased back on a long-term deal, with the intention that both De Beers and its parent company,

Anglo American plc Anglo American plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of ...

, would move into the building by 2020. Following renovations by London architecture and design firm MCM, Anglo made No. 17 its global headquarters in 2021.

Smithfield Market

The 19th century

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Smithfield Market, designed by Victorian architect Sir Horace Jones, is the dominant architectural feature of the area. The market, along with Billingsgate Fish Market and New Spitalfields Market are expected to move to a new consolidated site in Dagenham Dock. The

Museum of London London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...

plans to move into the General Market Building on Smithfield when possible, vacating its nearby Barbican site in December 2022.

Previous tenants

The street was formerly home to several refrigerated warehouses serving Smithfield Meat Market including the Central Cold Store, the Metropolitan Cold Stores at 77A and

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...

Cold Store. The site on the corner of Farringdon Road was occupied by the 1960s Caxton House which was demolished in 2009 as part of the Farringdon station extension. Caxton House demolition

References

{{reflist Streets in the London Borough of Islington Streets in the City of London Smithfield, London Odonyms referring to a building