Praetorium Londinii
About
A large official residence and administrative complex on the north bank of the Thames, built c. 80-100 CE, with offices, reception halls, private quarters and an ornamental pool; identified with the site now under Cannon Street station. Plausibly the residence/office of the governor of Britannia. Definitely standing and in continuous official use by 117 CE.
What happened here
The public rooms are enormous and the private ones are not. A visitor is walked through an audience hall built to make him feel small, waits with everyone else, and is admitted in order of usefulness. Behind that front, the household runs on hundreds of slaves and freedmen with narrow specialities — one for the lamps, one for the silver, one who remembers names. The kitchens are far from the dining rooms, so food arrives warm at best. Business never stops: petitions from provincial towns, judicial appeals, dispatches read aloud while the emperor is being shaved. Gardens and fountains take up as much ground as the buildings, because being able to waste that much space in a crowded city is the point.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →