Marx Memorial Library

The Marx Memorial Library was originally built as the Welsh Charity School between 1737 and 1738 to the designs of James Steere. The front elevation was substantially rebuilt in 1968-9, carefully matching the original design under the supervision of A.A. Stewart. A circular plaque in the pediment commemorates the dates 1737 and 1969. The building is constructed of brick covered with stucco, and has a roof of Welsh slate. It is two storeys high with a basement, and has a five-window front with the three central bays projecting slightly and topped by a pediment. Rusticated quoins flank the facade as a whole. A flat-arched central entrance is accentuated by a moulded stucco architrave and cornice supported on consoles, with a cornice and overlight above the door. The windows are flat-arched, though the central first-floor window has a moulded stucco architrave and a keystone. A sill band runs along the ground floor, and a storey band separates the floors. A cornice, blocking course and pediment complete the exterior. The building includes end stacks.

The building has a varied history, previously serving as the Welsh Charity School (1738-1772), the Northumberland Arms (1738-1838), coffee rooms (1838-1880), the London Patriotic Club (1872-1892), the Twentieth Century Press (1892-1922), and finally as the Marx Memorial Library from 1933. Notably, Lenin edited the publication Iskra here between 1902 and 1903.

The interior includes barrel-vaulted tunnels underneath the building, which extend beyond the footprint of the structure. These tunnels might be linked to a 12th-century nunnery or the former Sessions House that once stood on the site. On the first floor, a mural painting titled ‘The Worker of the Future upsetting the Economic Chaos of the Present’ was painted around 1935 in buon fresco by Viscount Hastings, a pupil of Diego Rivera, and is located on the western party wall.

The building is of exceptional historical significance as the only surviving building in Britain strongly associated with Lenin.