Black Friars Lane was known as Water Lane until 1940.
Along Black Friars Lane is Apothecaries Hall. It is a scheduled monument and the headquarters of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, ae livery companies of the City of London. The building was originally part of the Dominican priory of Black Friars and was called Cobham House prior to its purchase by the society in 1632.
Most of these 13th-century buildings were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A new hall was built on the same footprint of rooms, completed in 1672. From then until 1922, the society manufactured medicinal and pharmaceutical products at their hall, and sold some of their products from a retail outlet on Water Lane (Black Friars Lane).
