Somerset House has been the home of the tax authorities since 1775, when an act of Parliament declared that the Stamp Office and Tax Office would be housed in a new building to be erected on the banks of the Thames.

By 1780, the north wing of the building facing the Strand, designed by surveyor-general of works Sir William Chambers, had been built. The rest of the structure was eventually completed in 1819, and some kind of tax office has been housed there ever since.

Yet this year could herald the end of the taxman’s long affair with this grand old lady of buildings. There are still 760 HM Revenue & Customs officials based at Somerset House, but the taxman is currently undertaking a sweeping review of its property portfolio and Somerset House is one of the properties facing the chop.

The future of the venue as an HMRC office will be decided by the summer.

Richard Mannion of Smith & Williamson, and also a former president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, says the building has always been a ‘special’ place in which to do business. ‘I have always thought there is something special about the place. There is so much history there and it is really atmospheric,’ Mannion says.

PricewaterhouseCoopers tax partner John Whiting shares Mannion’s reverence for the building, recalling its spectacular sweeping staircases and long, elegant corridors.

However, he adds: ‘The building is not designed to handle computer cabling and there have been days when I went there and realised that air conditioning is a really good invention. I love going to Somerset House for meetings because of its aura, but would I really like to work there everyday? I am not so sure.’