New Court [3]: 1965-2008, The City, London, England

'Intended for magnificent business', New Court has been the home of the London house of Rothschild for over 200 years. There have been four buildings called New Court on the site.

The third New Court

By the early 1960s, the century old building was beginning to look dated, at a time when N M Rothschild & Sons were looking resolutely to the future. Attempts were made to extend it upwards, but the time had come to re-build again. In 1962, the bold decision was taken to rebuild New Court. Senior Partner Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009), and the Partners Evelyn (later Sir Evelyn) de Rothschild (1931-1922), Leopold de Rothschild (1927-2012) and Jacob (later Jacob, 4th Lord Rothschild) (b.1936) created a new Rothschild-owned company to undertake the development. The architect Fitzroy Robinson was commissioned and the construction company Trollope & Colls were appointed to oversee the project. In 1962, staff said goodbye to the old New Court and left for a temporary office in City Gate House, Finsbury Square.

In 1965 the staff returned to St Swithin's Lane to a building very different to that which they had left. The main building had two floors below ground and seven above, set back from the Lane, with two 3-storey wings joining the main block at right angles, arranged, in a deliberate echo of the two earlier buildings, around a central courtyard. Granite setts from the old courtyard were laid in decorative patterns in the new, and the New Court sign from the 1860 building was prominently displayed. Elsewhere in the building, historic features were incorporated including panelling from the Partners' Room and historic paintings.  New features included air conditioning and a strongroom manufactured by Chubb, with Europe’s then biggest strongroom door, with a lock offering over 4,000,000,000 different combinations.

The new building was the visible symbol of a trend of modernisation within the firm. The 1960s was the last decade in which the partnership operated, and in 1970 N M Rothschild & Sons became N M Rothschild & Sons Limited, with a board of directors. As business grew, extra premises were taken in Croydon to accommodate staff from administrative and accounting departments, and in 1984 an extra storey was added to New Court to create a new Board Room.

 

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