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Queen Mary Heritage

The Octagon

  

The Octagon

Photography: Norah Alghafis

Queen Mary Students' Union                                                                           Bancroft Building

The Octagon room is a library room that is octagonal in shape. This was designed by Mr E. R. Robson and costed around £10,000 to develop. The building of this room commenced immediately after the Queen’s Hall was completed.  

It can accommodate for 250,000 volumes of specific book size formats known as octavo. The shelves for these literary mediums are fitted into iron supports that run from the floor to the second gallery. Galleries are reached by spiral staircases which extend from the roof to the basement.  

The foundation stone of this library was laid by H.M. the King of the Belgians on June 25th 1987. 

 

Sources Used:

Queen Mary University of London Archives, Reference: GM/4/9

    

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John Leigh Smeathman Hatton

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