Number 10 and Attached Railngs; Number 25 and Attached Railngs London, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

TQ3181SW SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS

727-0/7/10150 No 25 and attached railings

(Formely listed as Patent Office Library)

27.4.89

GV II*

Includes: No 10 FURNIVAL STREET

Library and Offices, 1890-1912. By the Office of Works' principal architect, Sir John Taylor. Construction supervised by Sir Henry Tanner (until 1905) and then H. N. Weekes, both also of the OoW. The general contractor for the project from 1892 to 1904/5 was B. E. Nightingale, and the builder John Perry and Co. The fireproofing of the Reading Room was executed c.1895 by the proprietary firm of Homan and Rodgers, one of the leading firms in fireproof construction at this time. The present complex also incorporates three bays of the elevation of an earlier structure, Staple Inn Chambers, designed and built in 1842-43 for the Taxing Masters in Chancery by the London-based architects Wigg and Pownall. The primary elevations are a mixture of brick and Portland stone, with white glazed brick to internal courts. A great deal of concrete was used, and many of the roof members are steel. Steel joists, cast iron, and wrought iron are all found in the Reading Room. Wood finishing is largely oak. The roof is of plain tile and the stacks of moulded bricks. The structure was designed and built as six distinct blocks between 1890 and 1912, and the following description describes each in turn. The Patent Office and Library Block, 1897-1902 -- Block 4 in the overall sequence of rebuilding. This contains the most important interiors: the Reading Room itself, the entrance lobby, vestibule, double-height round stair (known as the Rotunda), and the Arbitration Room (now the Conference Room). Outside the long elevation is in the Elizabethan/Jacobean style to match the 1842-43 block (see Block 3 description below): this 130 ft. elevation to Southampton Buildings has a 13-window range and three storeys with attic over basement. The centre and outer bays are topped by a Flemish gable, and are articulated further by the application of Doric pilasters to each storey. All the windows have stone mullions and transoms, boldly moulded. There are shaped pediments to the dormer windows. The entrance aedicule has fluted Doric columns supporting a triglyph frieze and curved pediment. Elaborate front railings with decorative panels at intervals. The long elevation to Southampton Buildings is, essentially, a perimeter structure, one office deep with an accompanying corridor; another perimeter range returns to the south, along the party wall and leads to the link with Block 2 (see below). Behind these ranges is the rectangular Reading Room, roughly 140 feet long and nearly 60 feet high, which is articulated by two galleries carried on Corinthian columns. The junction between this nearly free-standing, Reading Room block and the perimeter ranges is achieved by a vestibule with apsidal ends to the north and south and decorative plasterwork. To the west of the Vestibule is the double-height and top-lit round stair, known as the Rotunda which leads to the former Arbitration Room, now the Conference Room, which sits above the Vestibule. All these spaces have sober embellishments, the grandest being the dome to the stair, the staircase itself, and the barrel-vault to the Conference Room, which is carried on Ionic pilasters. The Reading Room itself is of high quality and a splendid space, roughly 140 feet long and 60 feet high. It is constructed on an atrium plan, with two tiers of galleries carried on cast-iron columns. The gallery fronts have decorative wrought-iron panels between cast-iron balusters. Two dog-leg staircases with decorative wrought-iron balustrades to first floor of gallery. The most up-to-date fireproof construction method was employed, as well as a very modern integrated heating and ventilating system. The glass roof is carried on arched principals. The original iron shelving and tables by W. Lucy and Co. To the patented desi