The new India House, which was opened in April 1800, was an austere building, severely classical, stone built and plain; but it was not entirely unadorned. The façade was relieved by pilasters and crowned by a pediment; and the pediment contained figures in high relief, much admired at the time, which were supposed to indicate the nature of the business transacted within. Even had this masterpiece survived, which it has not, it is doubtful whether the casual observer would have grasped the point of the allegory. A point, however, there was, as the following quotation will show:

One is loath to spoil the effect of such a description. Yet, here is an epitome of nineteenth-century England, firmly carved on the walls of Leadenhall Street almost before the century had begun. With the exception, perhaps, of the Tritons on Sea Horses, every figure was significant, prophetic and unconsciously revealing.