Exterior of the Bank of England on Threadneedle Street in the Square Mile, the capitals financial district, on 13th November 2017, in the City of London, England. The Bank of England, is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world. Sir Herbert Bakers rebuilding of the Bank, demolishing most of Sir John Soanes earlier building, was described by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the twentieth century.