2 Cht Leaflet Web

8/10/2019 2 Cht Leaflet Web

1/6


2/6

The Royal College of Pathologists2 Carlton House Terrace is the home of the Royal College of

Pathologists, a professional membership organisation with

charitable status, concerned with all matters relating to the

science and practice of pathology.

The College was founded in 1962 and received its Royal

Charter in 1970. College Fellows work mostly in hospitals,

universities and industry. The College Fellowship includes

several Nobel Laureates. Information about the work of the

College can be found at www.rcpath.org.

Carlton House Terrace constructionCarlton House Terrace was constructed largely between 1826

and 1829 and it remains Crown property to this day. What is

now Waterloo Place had been the site of Carlton House, built

at the beginning of the 18th century, and home to the Prince

Regent for 30 years. When he first occupied the house it was in

a poor state of repair, and despite lavish expenditure onreconstruction, carried out under the supervision of John Nash,

he never overcame his unhappiness with a house standing in

a street, a comment provoked by the screen of arches in front

of the house and in line with the south side of Pall Mall. On

becoming George IV in 1820, he moved to Buckingham House,

and began enlarging this, again with the services of Nash. Hisdebts escalated and he welcomed the resourceful Nashs sug-

gestion that the now redundant Carlton House be demolished

and replaced by a Terrace for letting to appropriate tenants.

John Nash (18 January 1752 13 May 1835)The Mall frontage is Nashs work, and is considered to be

among his finest. The Terrace frontage, however, is the work ofhis collaborator, Decimus Burton. The underground car park

incorporates the original kitchens and cellars, and possibly


3/6


4/6

Terrace and 3 Carlton Gardens would be returned to the

Commissioners from the Ministry of Works. The Commission-

ers invited applications for tenants, stating that the buildings

appeared in good condition though the floors would not be

strong enough for parties or dances! It would be their policy

to convert the houses to modern use, preserving for posteritythe fabric and faades on the Mall and Carlton House Terrace,

and giving these historic buildings another lease of life.

Milestones for 2 Carlton House Terrace

18261829 Carlton House Terrace constructed

1829 No 2, first house to be leased, to the secondBarton Kensington

1923 No 2 leased to its last private tenant, 9th

Duke of Roxburghe

1941 Bomb damage leaves No 2 open to the sky

1963 Carlton House Terrace returned to the

Commissioners from the Ministry of Works

1967 Campaign College Trust acquires lease to No

2; bomb damage is repaired

1970 Cancer Research Campaign and Royal

College of Pathologists (RCPath) move in to

No 2

1993 Major renovation undertaken by RCPath

to restore space and grandeur of original

building

2007 RCPath develops state-of-the-art Education

Centre in the lower ground floor


5/6

2 Carlton House Terrace remained open to the sky until

repairs were put in hand in 1967 as the result of the joint

(Cancer Research Campaign and Royal College of Pathologists)

Campaign College Trust acquiring the lease through the

generous benefaction of 500,000 from the late Sir Michael

Sobell, a philanthropist and long-term supporter of the devel-

opment of treatments for cancer, who is commemorated with

a plaque in the foyer. This was so long after the air raid damage

that the entitlement to war damage compensation had lapsed.

However, the Crown Estates Commission was eventually able to

negotiate the replacement of the roof; the exceptionally favour-able terms of the lease reflected the extent of other essential

repairs. The building was finally ready for the College and the

Campaign to move in during May 1970.

The restored building served the Campaign and College

well for a number of years but it became apparent by the late

1970s that the accommodation was becoming inadequate

for the rapidly growing needs of both organisations. In the

middle of 1992, the Campaign moved to Cambridge Terrace in

Regents Park.

Recent major refurbishmentsThe College interior as you see it today reflects two major

refurbishments. Major work was undertaken in 1993 byarchitects, Bennetts Associates, who recreated the original

spaciousness and grandeur and, with imagination, provided

both public and office rooms which would serve the needs

of the College. The lightwell itself was filled in to create a

new courtyard at first floor level, giving the accommodation

on that floor an enhanced sense of importance and provid-

ing additional top-lit space, as well as light to all surround-

ing rooms. The main reception hall was able to resume its

original layout.


6/6

Bennetts Associates had worked in Carlton House Terrace

before at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (No 12) in 1987.

During this earlier work, it emerged that Nash had planned

the Terrace on a repetitive grid of approximately 3.8 metres,

with the internal spaces derived from a geometry based

on this dimension. So it turned out at No 2 and, although

the rabbit-warren of rooms and suspended ceilings (some

exceeding 8 foot in depth) that were the legacy of the post-

war reconstruction disguised the underlying hierarchy of the

building, a simple exercise with the planning grid showed

how the original scale and proportion of the original volumescould be recreated by stripping out superfluous walls and

shifting structural openings so that they responded axially to

the grid. Bennetts Associates made it clear from the outset

that they would like to create a modem interior within the

spirit of the original shape and form of the building.

The second major development, again by architects Ben-

netts Associates and completed in 2008, was the conversion

of the Lower Ground Floor into a state-of-the-art Education

Centre. The area consisted of many individual small rooms,

divided by very thick walls, with most plant and equipment at

ceiling level. The project opened up the space to create a raked

lecture theatre, a multipurpose room and three breakout rooms.

All rooms have full audiovisual facilities that will link in with themain conference room on the ground floor.

To achieve permission from English Heritage to undertake

the structural works, Bennetts Associates produced a detailed

history of the building from 1829 to the present day. Some of

this information is displayed on the lower ground floor and it is

fascinating to see the various stages of the buildings life from

its original use as a grand residential house, to the damage that

occurred in 1940 and the various post-war restorations.

To book any of the Colleges facilities, please

contact the Events Team on telephone: 020 7451

6740 or email: [email protected] Further

information on our facilities can be viewed at

www.2carltonhouseterrace.com

Further information on the architects,

Bennetts Associates, can be found at

bennettsassociates.com

Documents

2 Cht Leaflet Web