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| £50 pounds Bank of England note |
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| 50 Pounds banknote |
British banknotes, British paper money, British bank notes, Great Britain banknotes, Great Britain paper money, Great Britain bank notes
Reverse: Portrait of Sir John Houblon (13 March 1632 – 10 January 1712) , the first Governor of the Bank of England from 1694 to 1697 and the old-style £50 note was issued during the same year (1994) as the Bank of England celebrated its 300th anniversary. The design also includes an image of the Bank Gatekeeper and Houblon's house in Threadneedle Street, the site of the present Bank of England building.
Watermark: Image of the Queen's portrait.
The house in Threadneedle Street
In December 1694 the Bank, originally occupying Mercers’ Hall, paid £5,500 for an eleven year lease on Grocers’ Hall where it eventually remained until 1733. On the failure to negotiate a renewal of the lease it was agreed to “build a new public office upon the Bank’s estate in Threadneedle Street”; the original site of Sir John Houblon’s house and gardens.
After the death of Lady Houblon in 1732 the site was to become the basis for Sampson to begin the development of the present Bank of England building in Threadneedle Street. Subsequently, the church of St Christpher-le-Stocks and the graveyard were to disappear beneath the ever-increasing requirements of the Bank.