Congress House
| Congress House | |
|---|---|
 Congress House | |
| General information | |
| Location | Great Russell Street, Holborn, London WC1B 3LS, England |
| Completed | 1958 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | David du Roi Aberdeen |
Congress House is the headquarters of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), a British organisation that represents most of the UK's trade unions.
In 1948, David du Roi Aberdeen won an architectural competition to design the new TUC headquarters building in Great Russell Street, London.[1] Staff began to move into the offices in 1956 and the building was officially opened in 1958. The building is Grade II* listed.[2]
Congress House was officially opened on 27 March 1958 along with the unveiling of a giant pietà-style statue of a woman holding her dead son, carved in place in the internal courtyard by Jacob Epstein, it was intended as a memorial to the dead trade unionists of both world wars.[3]
The front of the building is dominated by a bronze sculpture by Bernard Meadows representing the spirit of trade unionism with the strong helping the weak.[1]
Congress House was one of the earliest post-war buildings to be listed at Grade II*, in 1988.[4]
In 2015 an ETFE roof was installed over the internal courtyard which enabled the glass roof of the conference centre below to be reinstated and affords protection to the Epstein statue.[5]
Jacob Epstein's "Pietà" in the courtyard of Congress House
The Bernard Meadows statue 'The Spirit of Brotherhood' above the entrance to Congress House
References
- 1 2 Archived December 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Historic England. "Details from image database (477672)". Images of England.
- ↑ "The Union Makes Us Strong – TUC History Online". Unionhistory.info. Retrieved 2015-07-26.
- ↑ "Congress House". c20society. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ↑ Architects, Hugh Broughton. "TUC Congress House | Hugh Broughton Architects". www.hbarchitects.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-10-19.