This is the very impressive University of London Senate House Library in Bloomsbury.
According to wikipedia, it was used by the Ministry of Information during the Second World War and inspired George Orwell's depiction of the Ministry of Truth in 1984. I've also heard tell (though I have not had it confirmed) that Hitler thought it was an excellent work of fascist architecture and planned to use it as his headquarters if he ever managed to occupy Great Britain.
Despite some of these negative undertones, I really like this building. Possibly my current favorite in the Bloomsbury area. Much more interesting than the business-as-usual Classical revivalism of my own University College London.
I don't like to brag but my PhD thesis is in that building! I doubt anybody has read it since it was submitted over 30 years back.
ReplyDeleteMembership is open to the public but at £225 I think I will pass. Makes my membership of The Leeds Library, the oldest subscription library here in the UK seem good value at less than 1/3 the fee.
ReplyDeleteWell, as I've written before, I suspect it was a little bit of totalitarism.(Bem que eu suspeitei que era totalitário).
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