The Maughan Library, King's College London

A Grand Victorian Archive Reborn

Standing on Chancery Lane in the heart of legal London, the Maughan Library occupies a Grade II* listed neo-Gothic masterpiece originally built as the Public Record Office between 1851 and 1898. Designed by Sir James Pennethorne and later expanded by Sir John Taylor, this imposing structure was conceived as the ‘strongbox of the Empire’, a fireproof repository for the nation’s most vital legal and governmental records. Its construction, in the wake of the devastating 1834 fire at the Palace of Westminster, prioritised safety over comfort: compartmentalised stone cells, cast-iron doors and shelving, slate shelves instead of wood, and minimal heating all aimed to protect parchment and paper from destruction. The building’s distinctive clock tower, added in 1865, once held an emergency water tank, while ornamental pepper-pot towers and zinc ceilings painted to resemble wood showcase Victorian ingenuity and craftsmanship.

From Rolls Chapel to Research Hub

The site’s story begins long before the Victorian archive. In 1232, King Henry III established the ‘House of Converts’, a sanctuary for Jewish people who had converted to Christianity, on this spot. After Edward I’s expulsion of Jews from England in 1290, the site became associated with the Master of the Rolls, keeper of the Court of Chancery’s records, and its chapel – rebuilt by Inigo Jones in 1617 and later altered – served as the Rolls Chapel. Over centuries, the chapel and surrounding estate evolved into a centre of legal record-keeping, culminating in Pennethorne’s grand archive. When the Public Record Office moved to new facilities in the late 1990s, King’s College London acquired the building and undertook a £35 million renovation to transform it into a modern university library, reopening in 2002 as the Maughan Library, named after alumnus and benefactor Sir Deryck Maughan.

Inside the Scholar’s Cathedral

Today, the Maughan is King’s main research library and the largest new university library in Britain since World War II. The renovation by Gaunt Francis Architects carefully preserved the building’s historic character while adapting it for contemporary academic life. Original cast-iron doors are displayed beside arches, salvaged slate and stone inform the interior palette, and two of the original fireproof document cells remain intact as evocative reminders of the building’s past. The library now holds millions of volumes across the arts, humanities, sciences and law, alongside major special collections such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historical Collection, the Carnegie Collection of British Music, rare incunabula, and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Warm wood, carefully designed lighting and modern study spaces contrast with the building’s austere Victorian bones, creating a uniquely atmospheric environment for research and study.

Atmosphere and Academic Life

Stepping into the Maughan is like entering a cathedral of knowledge: high ceilings, arched windows, and the quiet hum of concentrated study replace the hush of a church. The building’s legal and archival heritage is palpable in its solid, almost fortress-like presence, yet the interior feels welcoming and intellectually stimulating. Students and researchers work in reading rooms that blend historic grandeur with modern facilities, while exhibitions and displays often highlight treasures from the special collections. The library’s central courtyard and surrounding gardens offer moments of calm, and the whole complex forms a key part of King’s Strand Campus, linking past and present in one of London’s most distinguished academic settings.