The National Provident Institution opened for business in one room in Nicholas Lane on 30th November 1835 and moved to 48 Gracechuch Street in March 1843. A new building was erected on the site of Nos 48, 49 and 50 and opened on 15 December 1862. That building with No 3 Eastcheap was demolished at the end of 1958 and the Institution returned to this building in August 1960.
Site: William Curtis & National Provident (3 memorials)
EC3, Gracechurch Street, 48 - 51
The two NPI plaques are in the doorway on the right, at no 48; the Curtis plaque is to the left at no 51. NPI have made rather excessive use of plaques and inscriptions on their building, as if they think their history will fly away if they don't pin it down in the stone.
During our research we came across a strange co-incidence: The architect of the NPI building (named on the north plaque) had a close familial and professional relationship with a Mr William Curtis Green. Next door, 200 years earlier, lived a Mr William Curtis. Spooky.
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