We’re excited to announce a new partnership with The London Archives that will ensure the accessibility and preservation of our world-class collections during the temporary closure and refurbishment of 66 Portland Place and the RIBA Library, due to begin next year.
The collaboration will bring together the two exceptional collections for the first time. From summer 2025, some of the most popular items from our collections will be showcased alongside The London Archives’ treasures at its Clerkenwell location – which include a copy of the Magna Carta and a property deed bearing William Shakespeare’s signature.
The partnership represents a significant milestone as we progress our House of Architecture transformation plans and will help us to inspire broader audiences and elevate the cultural profile of our collections.
It will also enable the use of The London Archives’ state-of-the-art conservation and digitisation spaces, ensuring that vital work on conserving rare books and digitising our collections continues seamlessly during the refurbishment of our 66 Portland Place.
Executive Director of Architecture Programmes & Collections at RIBA, Oliver-Urquhart Irvine, said:
"Our partnership with The London Archives is an exciting step towards ensuring that our invaluable collections are as widely accessible and well-cared for as possible.
“This collaboration is not only about preserving access to the RIBA collections while we undertake the transformative refurbishment of 66 Portland Place but also inspiring new discoveries and connecting more deeply with architectural professionals, researchers, students, and the public – indeed, anyone with an interest in, or passion for, architecture.
“Together, we will unlock exciting opportunities that showcase the dynamic interplay of architecture, history, and culture."
Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Culture, Heritage, and Libraries Committee, Munsur Ali, said:
“Not only will this unique partnership offer continued access to RIBA’s collections, it also represents a valuable opportunity to create new possibilities for research, learning, and public programming that showcases the richness of these collections.
“The team at The London Archives - arguably, one of the jewels in the City Corporation’s crown - are looking forward to working with RIBA and providing a warm welcome to its many library users next year.”
The RIBA Collections - among the largest and most diverse of its kind in the world
Bringing together over four million items, the RIBA collections represent a unique body of architectural knowledge that span thousands of architects, hundreds of years and dozens of nations. From 15th century books and drawings to models and photographs documenting architecture around the world today, our collections represent a shared history and narrative that describes how buildings, communities and civilisations are designed and constructed.
The RIBA Library offers access to around 150,000 books and 2,200 periodicals – from the earliest to the latest architectural and design publications. It features one of the world’s finest groupings of early architectural publications – almost 5,000 volumes published between 1478 and 1840, including many early and rare editions of seminal works. Key texts include a 1486 edition of Vitruvius’ De Architectura, Serlio’s First (-Fifth) Book of Architecture, Alberti’s 1485 De re aedificatoria – the first printed architecture book – and John Shute’s 1563 First and Chief Groundes of Architecture, considered the first English architecture book
Accessing the RIBA Collections and RIBA Library
The RIBA Library at 66 Portland Place will remain open until 10 April 2025 but will be closed on Fridays to allow our staff to support the collections moves required ahead of the library’s wider closure. It will be closed from 10 April 2025 onwards to enable removal and transfer of the materials to their new temporary home at The London Archives.
From Summer 2025, many items from our collections will be available to access at London Archives. However, some of the material currently available at the RIBA Library will need to be ordered/retrieved from The London Archives’ strongrooms, rather than browsed. The arrangements for requesting items will be made public later next year. RIBA Library users are always encouraged to make contact in advance to make sure the material they wish to use is available.
Some material from RIBA Collections’ stores at 66 Portland Place will not be stored with The London Archives during the partnership period and will instead be housed at a site in Stockwell, London where access will be made available by appointment. This will include books and the Robert Elwall Photographs Collection. Between this site and The London Archives, this means that the whole of RIBA’s Collections now housed at 66 Portland Place will be accessible to users while the building is closed for refurbishment.
