Congress House Including Forecourt and Courtyard Sculptures, Bloomsbury, London

Entry Name: Congress House Including Forecourt and Courtyard Sculptures

Listing Date: 29 March 1988

Grade: II*

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1113223

English Heritage Legacy ID: 477672

ID on this website: 101113223

Location: St Giles, Camden, London, WC1B

County: London

District: Camden

Electoral Ward/Division: Bloomsbury

Parish: Non Civil Parish

Built-Up Area: Camden

Traditional County: Middlesex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Greater London

Church of England Parish: St Giles-in-the-Fields

Church of England Diocese: London

Tagged with: Building

Description

CAMDEN

TQ2981SE GREAT RUSSELL STREET
798-1/104/684 (South side)
29/03/88 Nos.23-28 (Consecutive)
Congress House including forecourt
and courtyard sculptures

GV II*

Trades Union headquarters building and sculptures. 1953-7. By
David du R Aberdeen. Sculptures by Jacob Epstein and Bernard
Meadows. For the Trades Union Congress. Polished granite and
blue tile cladding; aluminium windows.
EXTERIOR: 7 storeys, 28 windows in a continuous strip.
E-shaped plan round an internal courtyard on restricted site
bounded by 3 streets; imposed height limitation of 80 ft.
Building houses the Memorial Hall, Library, Secretariat and
Council Chamber. Principal elevation to Great Russell Street a
rectangular block on pilotis; recessed ground floor glazed,
upper floors continuous strip windows alternating with bands
of granite cladding, those at top floor being large
rectangular lights with a band of half lights above. Plinth in
front of entrance supporting bronze sculpture by Bernard
Meadows. Side elevation to Dyott Street more boldly modelled.
Small balconies to the five main storeys at the north end, the
glazed drum of the horse-shoe staircase to the basement in the
centre, and a projection of the first floor beneath which is
the Memorial Hall.
INTERIOR: is of interest spatially and retains most original
fixtures and fittings. Top-lighting of the hall is provided by
glazed hexagonal coffers which form part of its space-frame
roof. On the west wall of the courtyard a pyramidal screen of
green marble acts as a backdrop for the TUC War Memorial by
Jacob Epstein (1955-6).
HISTORICAL NOTE: widely regarded, at the time of its
completion and since, as one of the most important
institutional buildings erected in London, and one of the most
significant 1950s buildings in Britain.
(Architectural Review: December 1957; Jacob Epstein: Sculpture
& Drawings: London: -1987).

Listing NGR: TQ2994981473

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 9 February 2017.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.