Commonwealth Hall was one of eight intercollegiate halls of the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
, opened in the 1960s and was situated in
Cartwright Gardens, London, between
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
and
Euston Road
Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to Kings Cross, London, 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 ...
. Latterly, it became part of the
Garden Halls, with Canterbury, and
Hughes Parry Hall.
History
The hall was opened with the aid of a gift of £250,000 from the
Wolfson Foundation
The Wolfson Foundation is a British registered charity that awards grants to support science and medicine, health, education and the arts and humanities. It was established in 1955 and re-registered in 2014.
, the endowment of the Wolfson Fo ...
. It was named after Samuel Commonwealth, a
UCL architecture student, who designed the building.
The Hall originally accommodated 400 male students in individual rooms plus a small number of dual occupancy rooms with separate bedrooms, although this was later increased by converting the originally shared study rooms into dual bedrooms. It also accommodated a number of live-in staff in individual rooms and flats. In 1985, it started admitting women too and became a mixed hall.
The hall contained a large kitchen and
refectory
A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...
in the basement, providing breakfast and dinner for all residents, plus lunch at weekends. Other facilities available at various periods during the life of the hall were a pair of squash courts, a billiards room, a music practice room, a large reading room and library, a photographic darkroom, and a licensed bar run by the students.
The Hall was used outside the university term time for holiday and conference accommodation.
Commonwealth Hall finally closed in June 2014.
Demolition and Redevelopment
Planning permission for redevelopment of all three garden halls was granted in September 2013. In 2014, demolition started.
The new Garden Hall replaced the existing garden halls buildings, and provides 900 single student rooms. The older Hughes Parry Hall tower was not demolished and continues to provide 300 single student rooms, making a total of 1200 rooms. Staff accommodation is spread across the new building.
[http://www.cartwrightgardens-clg.com/docs/UoL-Cartwright-Gardens-Community-Liaison-Meeting-20-01-20-15-draft.pdf ]
References
University of London intercollegiate halls of residence
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