In 1936, Temple Press Ltd, a publisher of technical journals, commissioned the architecture firm of F. W. Troup and H. R. Steele to erect a new print shop on a plot of land they had leased in Clerkenwell. The earliest part of the complex, likely designed by the younger partner, Harold Rooksby Steele, were completed in 1939, with a later addition in 1954-56. Fitting with the need for the large, well-lit rooms required for printing operations, a frame of reinforced concrete was used, with brick facing.
Printing operations on the premises ceased in the 1960s. In 1981-82, the lower half of the building was converted for the Greater London Record Office, later taken over by the Corporation of London and renamed London Metropolitan Archives. The rest of the original print shop is now the Finsbury Business Centre, an office building. An archive store extension was added in 1991-93, designed by Culpin Partnership Architects.
The only images I have of this location are these hasty phone snaps from July 2022. I hope to be able to visit the Archives one day and document the interior.
This post is part of a series on adaptive reuse in libraries. See the list of such projects I am maintaining or view other posts in this series.
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