Friends House

Last updated

Friends House Friends Meeting House, Euston from Endsleigh Gardens, London WC1 - geograph.org.uk - 731459.jpg
Friends House

Friends House is a multi-use building at 173 Euston Road in London, England. The building houses the central offices of British Quakers and a conference centre. The building is also the principal venue for North West London Meeting and the Britain Yearly Meeting.

Contents

Friends House serves as a hub for an array of events, meetings, conferences, and gatherings for organisations and individuals. There is also a library (the Library of the Society of Friends), a café, a bookshop, a worship space, a courtyard, and garden on-site.

Background

Prior to 1926 the central offices of British Quakers were located in Devonshire House on Bishopsgate in the City of London. The Society of Friends had been renting rooms there since 1666, prior to which it had been the London home of the Dukes of Devonshire. [1] Over time the Quakers obtained the lease of the building and adjoining ground and erected purpose-built meeting houses and offices. By 1911, the site was no longer of sufficient size for the number of employees that worked there and a committee was set up to consider rebuilding or moving [2]

After a spirited debate among Quakers, it was agreed to sell the Devonshire House site and look for new premises. They purchased the freehold of Endsleigh Gardens for £45,000 in 1923. [2] The choice of Endsleigh Gardens was quite controversial, as it was a greenfield site, and the building of Friends House was criticised by The London Society. [3]

The Building

After the new site had been purchased, five Quaker architects were invited to submit outline plans for the new facility. The specifications included a large meeting house capable of seating 1,500 people for Yearly Meeting, a smaller meeting house, office space and a library with strong rooms. [2]

The winning design was created by Hubert Lidbetter, who presented a simple and elegant neo-Georgian design of Portland stone and brick. It was comprised of three distinct blocks, each with its own entrance. The eastern section, with the garden entrance, was designed for administration, the central block with the colonnaded entrance on Euston Road contained the large and small meeting spaces, and the west block, with its entrance on Gordon Street, was created for letting out. This western section is now known as Drayton House. [4]

The completed building won the RIBA Bronze medal in 1927 for the best building erected in London that year. It was described in the Architectural Review as “eminently Quakerly … [it] unites common sense with just so much relief from absolute plainness as gives pleasure to the eye”. [5] It was Grade II listed in May 1996. [4]

The Large Meeting House/The Light Auditorium

In 2014, the large meeting house was refurbished by John McAslan + Partners, becoming The Light, a 1,000-delegate capacity auditorium. A 200 square meter floor space and a skylight were created. In an echo of Hubert Lidbetter’s 1927 RIBA bronze medal, The Light won a RIBA Regional award in 2015. [6] It continues to be the primary venue for Britain Yearly Meeting.

Garden

The Friends House garden links Euston Road and Endsleigh gardens, through a path which is open from the early morning to the late afternoon. In 2016, the garden was relandscaped, following a design by Quaker horticulturist Wendy Price and John Mc Aslan + Partners inspired by the Waldo Williams poem ‘In Two Fields’. [7]

A pathway was added, carved with a timeline of more than twenty key Quaker dates “highlighting significant points through three centuries, from persecution to permission to worship and marry; and commitment to tackle issues around slavery, landmines, mental health, justice, sexuality and sustainability”. [7]

Meeting Rooms

Within Friends House are numerous meeting rooms and conference halls of varying sizes. All the meeting rooms are named after prominent Quakers and peace campaigners, including Bayard Rustin , Lucretia Mott , John Woolman , Ada Salter , Waldo Williams , George Bradshaw , Kathleen Lonsdale , Abraham Darby , Hilda Clark , Marjorie Sykes , Margaret Fell , Sarah Fell , Benjamin Lay , Elizabeth Fry and George Fox . [8]

The Library

Friends House is home to the Library of the Society of Friends. This collection dates from the 1650s, and includes the records and archives of Britain Yearly Meeting as well as one of the largest collections of Quaker books and material in the world. [9] Highlights of the collection include the diaries of Elizabeth Fry, the anti-slavery pamphlet collection and the Swarthmore manuscripts: over 1400 letters of the first Quakers. [10]

Notable Events at Friends House

Visit of Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi visited the UK in 1931 for the Round Table Conferences discussing constitutional reforms in India. He made his first public speech in London in the large meeting house in Friends House. [11]

Housewives cost of living protest

Hundreds of women gathered at Friends House on 23 February 1938 to speak about how the cost of living had affected them. Several women spoke, including a young housewife who said “We do not ask for strawberries and cream, we only ask for bread and butter”. A petition of over 500,000 women’s signatures protesting against the government’s handling of the crisis was handed to Clement Attlee, then leader of the opposition. [12]

Visit of Norman Manley

Norman Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica, spoke at a gathering at Friends House in the wake of the Nottinghill Riots in 1958. Manley told the large crowd, many of whom were people of African-Caribbean heritage that he was “here to let you know that you have governments that care for you, to challenge decent British public opinion to stamp out things that would shame even a Southern State in the United States of America”. [13]

International Conference for Sanctions against South Africa

The first international conference on sanctions against South Africa was called by the Anti-Apartheid Movement in April 1964. It was chaired by Mongi Slim and attended by representatives from 29 different countries. [14] Oliver Tambo, at that time deputy president of the ANC, spoke about the racial injustice in South Africa, asking “what is to be the end of the world’s abhorrence of apartheid, if the world supports apartheid materially?” [15]

Visit of Martin Luther King Jr. & Bayard Rustin

Martin Luther King was introduced at a lunch reception in Friends House by Bayard Rustin. The reception had been arranged by the Quaker Peace and Race Relations Committees, and was part of King’s visit to London ahead of his Nobel Prize ceremony. [16]  

Break in by South African Intelligence Services

In December 1971 the offices of the Britain Yearly Meeting were broken into, allegedly by the South African Intelligence Services, and documents of the Friends Peace and International Relations Committee relating to their membership and work with South Africa were stolen [17]

Stop the War Coalition

On 21 September 2001 over 2,000 people gathered in Friends House to begin the organised opposition to the War on Terror [18]

Visit of Greta Thunberg

Quakers in Britain hosted a climate emergency event on 22 April 2019, where Greta Thunberg spoke, urging people to pay attention to climate change [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euston railway station</span> Central London railway terminus

Euston railway station is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railway. Euston is the eleventh-busiest station in Britain and the country's busiest inter-city passenger terminal, being the gateway from London to the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euston Road</span> Thoroughfare in central London, England

Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston Hall, the family seat of the Dukes of Grafton, who had become major property owners in the area during the mid-19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University College Hospital</span> Hospital in London, England

University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College London (UCL), whose main campus is situated next door. The hospital is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Britain Yearly Meeting</span> Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting, is a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is the national organisation of Quakers living in Britain. Britain Yearly Meeting refers to both the religious gathering and the organisation. "Yearly Meeting", or "Yearly Meeting Gathering" are usually the names given to the annual gathering of British Quakers. Quakers in Britain is the name the organisation is commonly known by.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euston Square</span> Location in London

Euston Square is a large square in the London Borough of Camden in Central London. It lies on Euston Road, and Euston railway station and Euston bus station are on its northernmost side. Although “Euston Square” strictly refers to the square, in day to day use the name is often used to refer to Euston Square tube station, whose entrance is at the junction of Euston Road and North Gower Street. The southern half of the square was built over in the 1920s, leaving Euston Square Gardens on the north side in front of Euston station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quakers</span> Family of Christian religious movements

Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members of these movements are generally united by a belief in each human's ability to experience the light within or "answering that of God in every one". Some profess a priesthood of all believers inspired by the First Epistle of Peter. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity. There are also Nontheist Quakers, whose spiritual practice does not rely on the existence of God. To differing extents, the Friends avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2017, there were an estimated 377,557 adult Quakers, 49% of them in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baden-Powell House</span> Conference centre in South Kensington, London

Queen's Gate House, still commonly known by its previous name of Baden-Powell House, is a conference centre in South Kensington, London. It was built as a tribute to Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, and has served as the headquarters for The Scout Association, as a hostel providing modern and affordable lodging for Scouts, Guides, their families and the general public staying in London and as a conference and event venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitehall, Cheam</span> Historic house museum in Cheam, London Borough of Sutton

Whitehall is a timber-framed historic house museum in the centre of Cheam Village, Sutton, Greater London. It is thought to have been a wattle and daub yeoman farmer's house originally, built around 1500. It is Grade II* listed on Historic England's National Heritage List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freemasons' Tavern</span> Meeting place in England

The Freemasons' Tavern was established in 1775 at 61–65 Great Queen Street in the West End of London. It served as a meeting place for a variety of notable organisations from the 18th century until it was demolished in 1909 to make way for the Connaught Rooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rivington Place</span> Gallery in London, England

Rivington Place is a purpose-built international visual arts centre in Shoreditch, London.

Commonwealth Hall was one of eight intercollegiate halls of the University of London, opened in the 1960s and was situated in Cartwright Gardens, London, between Bloomsbury and Euston Road. Latterly, it became part of the Garden Halls, with Canterbury, and Hughes Parry Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compass Centre</span>

Compass Centre is an office building on the grounds of Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The building serves as Heathrow Airport Holdings's head office. Compass Centre previously served as a British Airways flight crew centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government Offices Great George Street</span> UK government office building in Westminster

Government Offices Great George Street (GOGGS) is a large UK government office building situated in Westminster between Horse Guards Road, Great George Street, Parliament Street, King Charles Street and Parliament Square. The western end of the building, on Horse Guards Road, is known as 1 Horse Guards Road (1HGR). The Parliament Street end is referred to as 100 Parliament Street (100PS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Putney Library</span>

Putney Library is a Grade II listed public library in the London Borough of Wandsworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quaker Gardens, Islington</span> Public garden and former burial ground in London

Quaker Gardens is a small public garden in the extreme south of the London Borough of Islington, close to the boundary with the City of London, in the area known historically as Bunhill Fields. It is managed by Islington Borough Council. It comprises the surviving fragment of a former burying ground for Quakers, in use from 1661 to 1855. George Fox, one of the founders of the movement, was among those buried here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Masons' Hall, London</span> Freemasonry headquarters

Mark Masons' Hall in London is the headquarters of The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales, which is also responsible for the Royal Ark Mariner degree. It is located in 86 St James's Street in the central London district of St James's, opposite St James's Palace. While Freemasons' Hall is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and the Supreme Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of England, Mark Masons' Hall is the home of several other important appendant orders of Freemasonry in England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Michael's, Fulwell</span> Church in London, England

St Michael's Fulwell is a Grade II listed Church of England church on Wilcox Road in Fulwell, a neighbourhood of Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Founded in 1913, it closed from 2000 to 2014 and re-opened with a new congregation in early 2015.

Longford Meeting House is a Grade II listed building, formerly used by the Society of Friends for worship, that stands on a site at the south side of Bath Road, Longford, a short distance to the east of the Duke of Northumberland's River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godalming Friends Meeting House</span> Church in Surrey , United Kingdom

Godalming Friends Meeting House is a Friends meeting house in the ancient town of Godalming in the English county of Surrey. One of many Nonconformist places of worship in the town, it dates from 1748 but houses a congregation whose roots go back nearly a century earlier. Decline set in during the 19th century and the meeting house passed out of Quaker use for nearly 60 years, but in 1926 the cause was reactivated and since then an unbroken history of Quaker worship has been maintained. Many improvements were carried out in the 20th century to the simple brick-built meeting house, which is Grade II-listed in view of its architectural and historical importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howgills, Letchworth Garden City</span> Historic building in Letchworth in Hertfordshire

Howgills in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, is a Grade II listed building on the Register of Historic England in use as a Meeting House for the Society of Friends (Quakers).

References

  1. ↑ Sefton-Jones, Margaret (1923). Old Devonshire House by Bishopsgate. London: Swarthmore Press.
  2. 1 2 3 Clark, Joanna (2006). Eminently Quakerly : the building of Friends House. London: Quaker Books. ISBN   0852453965.
  3. ↑ The London Society (1927). London Squares and How to Save Them. London: The London Society.
  4. 1 2 Historic England. "Official List Entry: Friends House, and Drayton House, with walls, railings, and garden to east". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  5. ↑ Dent, Alwyn R. (23 November 1927). "The new home of the Quakers". The Architects Journal: 671–679.
  6. ↑ "Friends House wins architectural award". thefriend.org. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  7. 1 2 Van Stavren, Anne (27 April 2016). "Friends House garden transformed". Quakers in Britain. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  8. ↑ "Meeting Rooms". Friends House. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  9. ↑ Hicks, Muriel A. (1960). "Friends' Reference Library, 1901-1959". The Journal of the Friends Historical Society. 49 (3). doi:10.14296/fhs.v49i3.4584.
  10. ↑ "Library collections". Quakers in Britain. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  11. ↑ "Mr. Gandhi in England with a travelling spinning-wheel". The Illustrated London News. 19 September 1931. p. 135.
  12. ↑ "Four wives with "voice" of 500,000 fighting cost of living". The Daily Herald. 24 February 1938. p. 13.
  13. ↑ ""I come with a challenge" - Mr Manley". The Birmingham Daily Post. 8 September 1958. p. 30.
  14. ↑ Hoskyns, Catherine (July 1964). "International Conference on Economic Sanctions Against South Africa". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 2 (2): 299–300. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00004122. ISSN   1469-7777.
  15. ↑ ""Apartheid - the Indictment": Paper Presented to the International Conference for Sactions agains South Africa by O. R. Tambo, April 1964 | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  16. ↑ "Dr. Martin Luther King at Friends House". The Friend. December 1964. p. 1493.
  17. ↑ "HL Deb South African Intelligence Activities, 9 December 1971, Volume 326". UK Parliament Hansard. 1971.
  18. ↑ "Millions marched with Stop the War". Socialist Worker. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  19. ↑ "Quakers host Greta Thunberg and support climate activists". Quakers in Britain. Retrieved 20 October 2023.

51°31′35″N0°07′57″W / 51.5263°N 0.1326°W / 51.5263; -0.1326

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.