Raise the Roof self-guided building tour

Welcome to 66 Portland Place, RIBA headquarters and the ‘Home of Architecture!’

Here is a trail, to follow at your own pace, that will reveal more about the building, spaces and features here. All of these are addressed in our summer 2024 exhibition Raise the Roof: Building for Change.

Building history

This highly innovative building is an early example of ‘modern’ architecture in the UK. It was designed to accommodate staff offices, host grand events, and house RIBA’s vast architectural library.

In 1970, 66 Portland Place was given Grade II* Listed status in recognition of its historical and architectural importance. The building contains a wealth of rare materials, intricate and symbolic decoration, and practical innovation. Its construction involved a huge collaboration between architects, artists, sculptors and tradespeople.

RIBA had quickly outgrown its previous headquarters on Conduit Street and in 1929 a design competition for new premises was announced, attracting 284 entries. The winning design was by British architect George Grey Wornum (1888-1957).

The building was officially opened by King George V and Queen Mary on 8 November 1934.

Exterior

66 Portland Place is a steel-framed building, encased with concrete and faced in Portland stone. It is often thought of as ‘Art Deco’ in style, but this term was not widely used until the 1960s.

On either side of the main door, two columns are topped with the allegorical figures of ‘the spirit of man and woman’, which were the work of sculptor James Woodford. They gesture towards the central figure of ‘architectural aspiration’, by fellow sculptor Bainbridge Copnall.

Copnall also made the sculptures on the Weymouth Street elevation, which represent a painter, a mechanic, an artisan, a sculptor, and an architect (in the form of the famous eighteenth-century British architect, Sir Christopher Wren).

Ground and lower ground floors

As you enter 66 Portland Place you find yourself in an entrance hall with walls lined with Perrycot stone. They are incised with the names of RIBA’s former presidents, secretaries (a precursor to the chief executive role), and recipients of the Royal Gold Medal, one of the world’s highest accolades in architecture.

Underneath the names of the latest Royal Gold Medal winners is the Architecture Gallery which opened in 2014. Here you will find Raise the Roof: Building for Change.

Down the steps, you will find the Henry Jarvis Memorial Hall which is often the location of our public talks and lectures. Separating it’s foyer and auditorium is a moveable wall that recedes into the floor to connect these spaces. On the auditorium side, this wall is decorated with a canvas by artist Bainbridge Copnall, assisted by Nicholas Harris.

At the centre of the Jarvis Mural sits a representation of the RIBA Council, surrounded by buildings connected with British imperial rule. At the edges are groups of Indigenous people of South Africa, India, Canada, and Australia. Their placement away from the buildings reflects the way they were excluded and marginalised from these seats of government under British rule.

The portrayal of the Indigenous figures is troubling in the way it embodies offensive racial stereotypes. In the exhibition Raise the Roof: Building for Change many of the artists have responded to the Jarvis Mural.

First floor

The main stairwell offers one of the most striking highlights of Wornum’s design, which enables hundreds of people to circulate between the ground floor, basement and first floor. The staircase is made from blue Demara and black Derbyshire marble and the balustrading features silver bronze frames encasing armour plate glass panels etched by the artist Jan Juta.

The panels on the first floor show the Royal Coat of Arms, the RIBA crest and the Coats of Arms of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia (then Dominions of the British Empire). The handrails are made from bronze and ebonised mahogany.

Above the stairs rise four huge columns, creating a triple-height atrium. Each column is a concrete-clad steel stanchion, cased in polished Ashburton marble, and finished with delicate red figuring.

Facing the top of the main staircase are a pair of English walnut and figured Indian laurel wood sliding doors. The doors’ handles are in the form of lions, made from silver bronze.

The Florence Hall is used for meetings, special events, and receptions, and has historically also played host to exhibitions and architecture exams. Its central floor area is polished teak, with rectangular areas of Hopton Wood stone and birdseye marble to the sides.

The room is flanked by carved Perrycot stone piers (the protruding walls between the windows), which were designed by Bainbridge Copnall and depict ‘Man and his building throughout the ages’. You might recognise some of the buildings shown, which include Liverpool Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. A portrait of the architect, who wears a monocle, can be found on the left-hand side near the doors as you enter the hall.

At the far end of the hall is the Dominion Screen, carved from Quebec Pine by Denis Dunlop in the 1930s. It depicts the animals, people, industries, and flora of the Dominions of the British Empire and of India. It was intended to be celebratory however the depictions of exploitation of natural resources, flora and people are offensive and problematic.

Raise the Roof: Building for Change is one of the first steps in our plan to address and respond to the colonial features within the building. We welcome your responses to the features throughout the exhibition this summer.

Second floor

The second floor forms a wide public gallery with temporary exhibitions, and offers the best space to appreciate the building’s light and spacious atrium. This level is host to the (private) president’s office and principal meeting rooms, including the leather-lined Aston Webb room, which overlooks Portland Place.

Third floor

On the third floor you’ll find the RIBA Library (also known as the British Architectural Library), which was a key part of the building’s original design brief. It contains one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of books on architecture.

Most of the collection are housed in the double-height reading room. It contains design innovations such as the rounded bookcase ends that conceal built-in radiators. The room’s colour scheme was devised by Miriam Wornum, and the desks and most of the chairs within are original.

The library was a key driver for the construction of RIBA’s new headquarters, because it had outgrown the previous reading room at Conduit Street. The library offers access to over 130,000 books and 850 periodical titles. It is free to visit and open to everyone.

Fourth Floor

The fourth floor landing features a series of finely-modelled plaster ceiling panels by Morris Wiedman, showing the different activities that were to take place around the building. For example, the figures above the doors to the library mezzanine are reading books.

The Council Chamber is panelled with curl walnut and contains original walnut desks. The heavily ornamented President’s chair was designed by the building’s architect, George Grey Wornum. Just behind it is a door, cleverly concealed in the panelling, which leads into mezzanine of the library.

The foyer to the Council Chamber contains portraits of former RIBA Presidents.

Designed by Hayhurst & Co., the Clore Learning Centre was created in 2019 from space previously used for meetings rooms and a corridor. The new space deploys materials, such as cabinetry fronts made of recycled yoghurt pots, to make a tactile space that references the fabric of the original building.

If you would like to know more about RIBA or our exhibition Raise the Roof, please email: exhibitions@riba.org