10, Furnival Street And Attached Railings, And 25, Southampton Buildings And Attached Railings

This library and office complex was constructed between 1890 and 1912 by the Office of Works' principal architect, Sir John Taylor, with construction supervised by Sir Henry Tanner (until 1905) and then H.N. Weekes, both also of the Office of Works. The general contractor from 1892 to 1904/5 was B.E. Nightingale, with John Perry and Co. as builder. The fireproofing of the Reading Room was executed around 1895 by Homan and Rodgers, one of the leading firms in fireproof construction at the time. The complex incorporates three bays 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 combine brick and Portland stone, with white glazed brick to internal courts. Concrete was used extensively throughout, with many roof members in 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 are of moulded bricks.

The structure comprises six distinct blocks built between 1890 and 1912, described here in turn.

The Patent Office and Library Block (Block 4), 1897-1902

This block 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). The long elevation is in the Elizabethan/Jacobean style to match the 1842-43 block. This 130-foot elevation to Southampton Buildings has a 13-window range and three storeys with attic over basement. The centre and outer bays are topped by Flemish gables and articulated further by Doric pilasters applied to each storey. All windows have boldly moulded stone mullions and transoms. The dormer windows have shaped pediments. The entrance aedicule has fluted Doric columns supporting a triglyph frieze and curved pediment. Elaborate front railings feature 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. Behind these ranges is the rectangular Reading Room, roughly 140 feet long and nearly 60 feet high, 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 lead to the first floor of the 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 design of Lambson survive in the bay areas.

Block 1 (Court Room Block), 1891-94

This block, of brick and stone also by Taylor, has three storeys over a basement and a five-window range on the north side of Tooks Court. The style is austere but handsome, with window architraves, sill bands and cornice Italianate in character. In plan this block is rectangular, its east wall forming a clear division between 25 Southampton Buildings and the part of the complex comprehended by the address 10 Furnival Street. There is a substantial open-well stair at the south end, and towards the north, roughly east of the northeast corner of the Reading Room, is the eponymous Court Room, a handsome interior complete with fittings.

Block 2, 1892-93

This block has a trapezoidal plan with a correspondingly shaped light court at the centre, with a fifteen-window range facing into this court, all sheathed in glazed white brick. There are two elevations visible from public highways, the longest on the west side of Tooks Court with a seven-window range. The detailing and materials match those used on the Tooks Court elevation of Block 1. Between these two ranges is the Tooks Court entrance to the complex, a service entrance of carved stone, possibly Portland, featuring a shallow, segmental arch. The interiors of Block 2 are very plain, a noteworthy feature being the exposed cast-iron columns that support the floors. The northwest corner of this block forms an entrance from Quality Court; the architectural treatment is identical to that used on the two Tooks Court elevations already described.

Block 3, 1890/91-97

This block has a long elevation to Staple Inn Gardens. Taylor retained the facade of the earlier Staple Inn Chambers by Wigg and Pownall, a six-window-wide elevation of three stories with shaped gables over all but bays two and five, illustrated in The Builder (1843, p. 171). He extended the elevation to 11 bays, with a total of seven shaped gables, making that in bay six (formerly bay one) larger than the rest. All that survives of the elevation finished in 1897 are the three right-hand bays of Wigg and Pownall's building for the Taxing Masters in Chancery. Taylor's elevations to the east were destroyed by a V1 rocket, and the front was rebuilt in 1954-5 by the Ministry of Works in a modern style, retaining part of the structure behind including the rear walls of this and the 1843 block.

Block 5 (10 Furnival Street), 1902-1912

This block was constructed in sections between 1902 and 1912 to Taylor's plans. It has an 18-window range and four stories over a basement. The south end lost a window bay as a result of war damage. The entrance has a handsome aedicule with a swan-necked pediment. Original elaborate front railings feature decorative panels at intervals. In plan this building has a corridor running on the north-south axis set to the rear of the offices facing Furnival Street. Three corridors run west off this towards the join with Block 1 on the south and Block 3 on the north.

Block 6 (25 Southampton Buildings), 1903

This block has an elevation to Quality Court (north side). It has three storeys and a twelve-window range, the latter broken up into quarters by narrow brick piers. Red brick with stone sills and bands; the ground floor is faced in stone. Rectangular in plan, it is set in the small space on the north side of Quality Court and abuts Block 2 to the east and Block 4 to the north. Block 6 was completed in 1903.

Historical Context

The Patent Office was established in offices on this site by an Act of 1852. The first Patent Office Library was opened to the public in 1855, fitted into a late 18th-century building constructed for the Masters in Ordinary in Chancery and for the Secretaries of Bankrupts and Lunatics. Between 1865 and 1867 James Pennethorne, Office of Works, constructed a special reading room/library block on the first floor of this earlier structure; interestingly, Taylor's own Reading Room designs refer in a general way back to this well-loved space. In a review of Pennethorne's building, the journal The Engineer (1867) noted that the collection comprised the "finest library of science and art in the world." This reading room-cum-library was extended in 1886. The structure was demolished between 1897 and 1902 to make way for the present Reading Room.