Maughan Library

The Maughan Library stands in the City of London on Chancery Lane, a 19th-century neo-Gothic building that once served as the headquarters of the Public Record Office. It occupies the site of the medieval Domus Conversorum, established in 1232 for Jewish converts to Christianity. The chapel of the Master of the Rolls, rebuilt several times, once held records of the Court of Chancery. After the Public Record Office moved its holdings to Kew in 1997, the building was acquired by King’s College London in 2001. The library’s transformation into a modern research space cost £35 million and took two years. It now holds over 750,000 items across four academic schools, including rare collections like the BBC’s 150,000 donated 78rpm records. The Foyle Special Collections Library preserves around 170,000 printed works and five million archival documents. A £4 million gift from alumnus Sir Deryck Maughan funded its naming, and the project won the 2003 City Heritage Award. Visitors enter a grand space with a round reading room topped by a painted zinc ceiling discovered during renovation. The Weston Room displays salvaged features from the Rolls Chapel, including stained glass, a mosaic floor and three Renaissance tombs. Study areas offer 1,250 reader places, from quiet carrels to group rooms. Outside, Chancery Lane’s legal quarter frames a building that blends centuries of history with modern scholarship.