Gringotts Wizarding Bank
Business Category: Shops and Services
Available Eras: Victorian, Expedition, Marauder, Golden, Reformation, Legacy
Creator: Series Canon
“About a hundred goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins on brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses.”
– Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Business Overview
Location
Located in Diagon Alley, the main branch of Gringotts Wizarding Bank seems to tower over the buildings and shops. The building appears to lean at various opposing angles. Roman style columns were added to the building during the 19th Century Visitors to the bank must mount a set of large, white marble steps and enter through tall bronze doors. Once through these doors, visitors will find themselves in a small hall with a pair of silver doors that lead into the main hall of the bank.
The main hall features a high ceiling with intricate and detailed decorative molding. The floors are marble tiles laid in a geometic pattern. The hall gives off an aura of luxury, which is juxtaposed by the counters full of hard-working goblins that run on either side of the hall. At the end of the hall, visitors will find a reception desk. From there, they can access their vault or request to speak to an employee about a loan or other business.
Inside the main hall, witches and wizards can take care of simple banking transactions such as cashing checks or promissory notes and exchanging muggle currency. These transactions are handled by the goblin clerks, which can be seen diligently counting and weighing gold and silver Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts using brass scales. At the end of the hall is a reception desk.
Goblins
To the left of reception desk is a large black door that leads into the loan offices. Here, witches, wizards, and goblins work in small cubicles processing loan requests and meeting with customers. To the right of the reception desk is a white door that leads the the bank’s administrative offices and employee break room.
Directly behind the reception desk is a red door that leads to the vaults. Witches and wizards wishing to gain access to their vault must present a key to the goblin behind the desk. A wand is sometimes required to be presented as an extra security measure, although this is rare. To access the vaults, a system of carts which run on tracks. There are many security features built into the vaults. The most notable of these is a dragon, which stands guard in the most secure section of the vaults. The bank employees a large number of security guards which patrol the vaults twenty-four-seven.
Although the main branch of Gringotts Wizarding Bank is located in London, there are smaller branches in major cities all over the world. Other locations where Gringotts can be found are Paris, Rome, New York, Cairo, Tokyo, Bucharest – just to name a few! These branches each have their own architecture and operate using the local magical currency, but they are all run by goblins and use a system of vaults to store money and valuables.
Gringotts Wizarding Bank is a Harry Potter canon business created for the original book series. Ideas and theories may be expanded upon, but established canon details cannot be altered. We recommend using the Harry Potter Lexicon or Wiki as information resources. Other questions can be referred to our staff team via PM or help desk.
Setting The Scene
