Royal College of Physicians

Details

CAMDEN

TQ2882SE ST ANDREW'S PLACE
798-1/92/1898 No.11
24/04/98 Royal College of Physicians

GV I

College. 1960-64, extended 1995-6 by Denys Lasdun and
Partners. Pre-stressed concrete clad with very pale grey
porcelain mosaic, in two different patterns, and dark blue
engineering bricks.
PLAN: `T'-shaped plan with offices facing Albany Street, the
main entrance facing Regents Park and the garden facade to St
Andrew's Place. The design concept is sculptural with the
constituent parts of the college expressed both in form and
materials.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and lower ground floor. Regents Park front
with 2 plain pillars supporting the cantilevered, flat-roofed,
library gallery with narrow vertically set, paired windows
(grouped on returns), beneath which the well of the library
forms a canopy, with a single central column and angle
windows, to the recessed glass entrance approached by brick
steps. To the right, a partially sunken lecture theatre of
brick with 2 small windows at ground floor level; form of
swelling curves, angled at one corner and with a shallow,
steel-framed pyramidal roof (unexpectedly symmetrical when
viewed from above). Right-hand return to St Andrew's Place
continues the lecture theatre, with, at 2nd floor, a mosaic
band with grouped vertically set windows to the library
gallery, committee rooms and working library. The staircase
hall is expressed by a large glass window (the largest sheet
of glass possible at the time) and at roof level by the
projecting twin linked service towers with corresponding
voids. To the garden, beneath the projecting, cubic form of
the Censors' Room is the brick-faced polygonal Members' Room
with 2 canted bay windows. Albany Street facade of strips of
brick alternating with strips of windows having stone lintels;
at roof level, the rectangular President's Flat. To the right,
a vehicle archway to the north facade with colonnaded ground
floor and narrow windows to the 1st and 2nd floors gained by
concrete curved stairs. All the vertical windows have small
inset drains to prevent water from staining the mosaic.
INTERIOR: impressive sequence of spaces centred on a large,
white marble-clad, full height stair-hall with two tiers of
galleries and a modern baroque marble staircase,
self-supported and climbing through 4 turns from the upper
ground floor to the 1st floor gallery whilst giving a


diversity of views and vistas. Lower entrance hall has, to the
right, steps to the lower ground floor and a further route
provided by an elegant spiral stair beneath a curved and
shaped solid balustrade with brass rail. The Censors' Room
contains panelling with paired Corinthian pilasters from the
former college of the 1670s by Robert Hooke; at the angles 4
vertical slit windows. Double doors to lecture theatre fronted
by 2 pillars; theatre steeply raked to seat 300 and with an
egg-shaped auditorium. The Dorchester Library is gained from
the gallery; double height with gallery, vertical slit
windows, top lighting and panelled in muninga wood. On the
opposite side of the gallery, the 2-storey Osler Room, a
dining hall, separated from the single storey reception room
by a 60 foot long hydraulically lifted/lowered wall. The 2nd
floor gallery has entrances to the Dorchester Library gallery,
the Osler Room gallery, the Wellcombe Library and committee
rooms. Meeting room and committee room added by Sir Denys
Lasdun and Partners in accordance with the ceremonial plan and
purity of design found in the original work.
The Royal College of Physicians was purpose built to replace
earlier accommodation on other sites. It is a prestigious
building combining ceremonial features with day to day
functionalism. It is included in Grade I as a powerful,
elegant and rational statement of early 1960s architectural
design. Awarded RIBA Bronze Medal in 1964; Civic Trust Award
in 1967. Denys Lasdun was given the Trustees Medal of the RIBA
for this building in 1992.

Listing NGR: TQ2878382390

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