The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-28 00:00:00

Alarming Fire in the City.

Late on Monday night a fire broke out in Threadneedle-
street, in the immediate neighbourhood of the Stock Ex-
change, which for a time caused great apprehension and
alarm, endangering, as it did, the surrounding property,
which is among the most valuable in the whole city of Lon-
don' as'well as the most interesting in an architectural point
•
of view. It originated in a stately building known as the
Telegraph Station, fronting the north-eastern part of the
Royal Exchange, and in the joint occupation of the Magnetic
and the Submarine Telegraph Companies and the Scottish
Insurance Company. The edifice is four stories high, the two
uppermost of which are used in the operations of the Magne-
ic Company, and the middle floor from the ground in those
A' the Submarine. There is a fine hall on the basement,
used icr the general receipt and transmission of messages
and common to both companies. The building has an
legant portico in Threadneedle-street, and is surmounted
by a large handsome clock. Immediately adjoining it on
the west is a magnificent structure erected within the last
year for the North British and Mercantile Insurance Cora-
,any, and which is just being completed, and en the west
that again is the bank if Messrs. Prescott. At the back
)f the Telegraph Station, and abutting upon it in one part,
is the Stock-Exchange, standing midway Lel ween Thread-
needle and Throgmorton-street, and hedged in by property
,f enormous value, and some of it if histoTio and civic in-
terest. Oa the top floor of the Telegraph station is a
cluster of rooms occupied by the Magnetic Company, and in
one of these, a place in which stationery was stored of the
value of upwards of £5OO, the fire originated,about a quarter
before 11 o'clock. In a room on the same floor about 30
telegraphic,instruments, each of them of great value, were
at work, and another, used as a workshop for the making
and repairing of instruments, contained much co et'y mate-
rial. To those two apartments the fire spread rapidly from
the stationery depot, and destroyed the whole of the instru-
ments and materials. Tho workshop of the Magnetic Com-
pany was immediately over that of the Submarine, and on
the floor of it falling in a mass of burning material fell
with it and set fire to the workshop below, consuming all
that it contained. Thence the fire spread to a room
of the Submarine Company on the same floor, where from
twenty to thirty instruments or more were at work, nearly
all of which were destroyed, and the telegraphic opera-
tions of the company were in consequence suspended for a
time. The whole roof of the building was completely
burnt, and at one time the flames poured out of the windows
at the bank in a manner to imperil the Stock Exchange.
Besides the rooms which have been completely gutted, much
damage has been done to the ceilings of others, and espe-
cially to that of the hall on the basement, by water; but in
the result the fire was happily confined to the building in
which it originated. Two hand engines and a steam fire
engine from the Watling-street station arrived promptly
upon the scene after the alarm had been given, and others
followed from the stations at Bishopsgate, Farringdon-
street, Southwark-bridge-road, Wellclose-square, and
Whitecross-street. Eventually there were eight engines on
the spot, four of which were worked by steam. There were
36 firemen in all engaged on the occasion, and Captain
Shaw, the chief of the London Fire Brigade, was present
directing the operati,ns. The engines played on the
burning building for about an hour and a half or two
hours, by which time the fire had been subdued. Accord-
ing to Isard, a fireman from the Watling-street station,
who first arrived with a hand engine, a delay of fully
ten minutes occurred from the want of an
adequate supply of water in the mains of the New River
Company at that particular spot. At one time the pole at
the top of the building from which the telegraph wires of
both companies radiate in various directions was in a
blaze, but it was eventually saved and no harm was done
to the wires outside the building. The operations of the
Magnetic Company were but slihttly interfered with by
the fire, and the company were able to transmit their early
morning express messages as usual to the provincial news-
papers in different parts of the kingdom. S ime interrup-
tion took place in the business of the Submarins Company,
but it was of short: duration, and by noon yesterday the
operations of both companies were going on as usual.