The Carpenter’s Hall

London's Livery Companies had been powerful medieval institutions. But fifty-two of London's Livery Company Halls were destroyed in the Great Fire. Carpenters' Hall was among only eight halls to survive the Fire.

The Great Fire affected the influence of the Livery Companies. With a new labour shortage, they had to relax their regulation of the building trade, so that non-members who had served apprenticeships elsewhere in the country could work in London.

When after the Fire, the 1667 Act for Rebuilding the City required the use of brick and stone, the Carpenters' dominance over the other building trades began to decline.