The Maughan Library — Gothic Revival Gem

The Maughan Library on Chancery Lane in London was built in the 1850s as London's first fireproof building to store national records like the Magna Carta. Designed by architect James Pennethorne on a site dating to 1232, the structure underwent a £35 million renovation and was reopened by Queen Elizabeth II in November 2002 as the largest new UK university library since World War II.

London · from the walk “Secrets of Lincoln's Inn Fields” · audio ~3 min · Generated

Maughan Library, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LR

Why was the Maughan Library in London built as a fireproof structure in the 1850s?

Take a look at this extraordinary building in front of you. At first glance, it looks like a medieval cathedral that somehow landed in the middle of London's legal district. But the Maugh-an Library has a story that stretches back nearly eight hundred years... and it's far stranger than you might imagine.......... This story begins in twelve thirty-two, when King Henry the Third established something called the Domus Conversorum... the House of Converts. It was a refuge for Jewish people who had converted to Christianity, who were required to surrender their possessions to the Crown. Just fifty-eight years later, in twelve ninety, Edward the First expelled All Jews from England at very short notice. The House of Converts lost its purpose... but the site did not sit idle. The building was repurposed as a storage facility for Chancery court records, and in thirteen seventy-seven, Edward the Third granted the chapel to the Keeper of the Rolls, transforming it into the Rolls Chapel.......... Now, fast forward to the eighteen fifties. Built shortly after the disastrous fire that destroyed the Palace of Westminster in eighteen thirty-four, this became London's First fireproof building. The architect, James Pennethorne, who had inherited John Nash's practice, designed it to house the nation's burgeoning records. To minimize fire risk, each storeroom had to be completely self-contained, lit only from outside... which explains the box-like rooms with their intimidating iron doors, and all those large windows. They called this place the "strong-box of the Empire." And for good reason... it housed treasures like the Doomsday Book and Magna Carta themselves.......... And here's something most people walk right past. The Clock Tower, added in eighteen sixty-five, actually conceals a water tank inside it! And the figures crowning its summit, sculpted by Joseph Durham in eighteen sixty-six, depict Queens Victoria, Anne, and Maud.......... When renovations began in two thousand one, workers discovered Two rare painted zinc ceilings from the eighteen sixties, and a stunning tessellated floor from nineteen oh one, hidden for decades. Those Victorian zinc ceilings are believed to be the Only two of their kind in the entire United Kingdom.......... And film fans, take note. In the two thousand three comedy Johnny English, the exterior of this very building doubled as the Tower of London. And although portions of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code are set within the library, no filming actually occurred here for the movie... a common misconception among visitors.......... The library was opened by Queen Elizabeth the Second in November two thousand two. Following a thirty-five million pound renovation, it became the largest new university library in the United Kingdom since World War Two. Eight centuries of history, from a medieval refuge... to the nation's strongbox... to a Gothic temple of knowledge. Not bad for one patch of Chancery Lane.

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