text: senate house ( university of london ) senate house is the administrative centre of the university of london , situated in the heart of bloomsbury , london between the school of oriental and african studies to the east , and the british museum to the south . the art deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase of a large uncompleted scheme designed for the university by charles holden . it consists of 19 floors and is 210 feet ( 64 m ) high . today the main building contains the university of london 's central academic bodies and activities , including the offices of the vice - chancellor of the university , the entire collection of the senate house library , and eight of the ten research institutes of the school of advanced study . during the second world war , the building 's use by the ministry of information inspired two noted english writers . graham greene 's novel the ministry of fear ( 1943 ) and its film adaptation ministry of fear by fritz lang ( 1944 ) set in bloomsbury . george orwell 's wife eileen worked in senate house for the censorship department of the ministry of information , and her experiences acted as the description of the ministry of truth in orwell 's 1949 novel nineteen eighty - four . history after the first world war the university of london , then based at the imperial institute in kensington was in urgent need of new office and teaching space to allow for its growth and expansion . in 1921 , the government bought 11 acres ( 4 . 5 ha ) of land in bloomsbury from the duke of bedford to provide a new site for the university . however , many within the university were opposed to a move , and , in 1926 , the duke bought back the land . the election of william beveridge however to the post of vice - chancellor of the university in june 1926 was highly significant as beveridge supported a move to bloomsbury . beveridge persuaded the rockefeller foundation to donate £ 400 , 000 to the university and the original site was reacquired in 1927 . beveridge saw the university as one " for the nation and the world , drawing from overseas as many students as oxford and cambridge and all the other english universities together . " and specified that " the central symbol of the university on the bloomsbury site can not fittingly look like an imitation of any other university , it must not be a replica from the middle ages . it should be something that could not have been built by any earlier generation than this , and can only be at home in london ... ( the building ) means a chance to enrich london – to give london at its heart not just more streets and shops ... but a great architectural feature ... an academic island in swirling tides of traffic , a world of learning in a world of affairs . " the grand art deco design was the work of charles holden , who was appointed as architect in march 1931 from a short list which also included giles gilbert scott , percy scott worthington and arnold dunbar smith . in making their choice , beveridge and the principal , edwin deller , were influenced by the success of holden 's recently completed 55 broadway , designed as the headquarters for the london electric railway and then the tallest office building in london . holden 's original plan for the university building was for a single structure covering the whole site , stretching almost 1 , 200 feet ( 370 m ) from montague place to torrington street . it comprised a central spine linked by a series of wings to the perimeter façade and enclosing a series of courtyards . the scheme was to be topped by two towers ; the taller senate house and a smaller one to the north . the design featured elevations of load - bearing brick work faced with portland stone . construction began in 1932 and was undertaken by holland , hannen & cubitts . king george v laid the ceremonial foundation stone on 26 june 1933 and the first staff moved in during 1936 , the university 's centenary year . on 28 november 1936 , a group of university officials , led by the principal , sir edwin deller , went out to inspect the work in progress . suddenly , without warning , a skip being pushed by a workman overhead accidentally fell down and hit them . all were rushed to university college hospital , where two days later , deller died of his injuries . due to a lack of funds , the full design was gradually cut back , and only the senate house and library were completed in 1937 , although the external flanking wings of the north - eastern courtyard were not constructed . as he had with his earlier buildings , holden also prepared the designs for the individual elements of the interior design . the completion of the buildings for the institute of education and the school of oriental studies followed , but the onset of the second world war prevented any further progress on the full scheme . critical opinion the architectural character and scale of the building has received both positive and negative criticism since its construction . steen eiler rasmussen , a friend of holden , commented that , with the expansive design , " the london university is swallowing more and more of the old houses , and this quarter – which the duke of bedford laid out for good domestic houses – has taken on quite a different character . " evelyn waugh , in put out more flags , describes it as " the vast bulk of london university insulting the autumnal sky . " positive comments came from functionalist architect erich mendelsohn in 1938 , who wrote to holden that he was " very much taken and am convinced that there is no finer building in london . " architectural historian arnold described the building as a " static massive pyramid ... obviously designed to last for a thousand years " , but thought " the interior is more pleasing than the exterior . there is essentially the atmosphere of dignity , serenity and repose that one associates with the architecture of ancient greece . " nikolaus pevsner was less enthusiastic . he described its style as " strangely semi - traditional , undecided modernism " and summarised the result : " the design certainly does not possess the vigour and directness of charles holden 's smaller underground stations . " others have described it as stalinist , or as totalitarian due to its great scale . holden recognised that his architectural style placed him in " rather a curious position , not quite in the fashion and not quite out of it ; not enough of a traditionalist to please the traditionalists and not enough of a modernist to please the modernists . " present day senate house remains a prominent landmark throughout bloomsbury and is visible from some distance away . the building was listed as grade ii * in 1969 following a multimillion - pound refurbishment in 2006 , senate house has also become a popular conference and event venue playing host to some of the city 's most prestigious events including london fashion week . following the relaxation of the rules in the uk on university status under the major government and consequential stirrings towards full independence of the larger london university colleges , the future of the senate house library has from time to time been called into question . however , senate house remains , and continues to be home both to the vice - chancellor of the university of london and to the deep resources of the university library ; indeed , it has recently undergone a refurbishment to bring it up to modern standards and to reinstate some of holden 's original interiors . some schools in constituent colleges , such as the birkbeck school of computer science and information systems ( until 2010 ) , and the school of advanced study ( the uk 's national centre for the facilitation and promotion of research in the humanities and social sciences ) are or were based in senate house . soas is moving into the north block of senate house from 2016 . the main entrance is from malet street to the west and the rear entrance from russell square to the east . senate house library senate house library ( formerly known as the university of london library ) occupies the fourth to the eighteenth floors of the building with the public areas of the library on the fourth to seventh floors , which is open to staff and students of all colleges within the university ( although levels of access differ between institutions ) and contains material relevant chiefly to arts , humanities , and social science subjects . the library is administered by the central university as part the senate house libraries and in 2005 had over 32 , 000 registered users . the library holds around three million volumes , including 120 , 000 volumes printed before 1851 . the library started with the foundation of the university of london in 1836 , but began to develop from 1871 when a book fund was started . along with a subscription to over 5 , 200 journals , other resources include the goldsmiths ' library of economic literature , and the palaeography room 's collection of western european manuscripts . the library also holds over 170 , 000 theses by graduate students . from 2006 onwards , the library has been undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment process . the library is also home to the university of london archives , which include the central archive of the university itself and many other collections , including the papers of philanthropist charles booth , philosopher herbert spencer , actress and mystic florence farr , author and artist thomas sturge moore , writer opal whiteley , and publishing company gerald duckworth and company ltd . in popular culture due to its imposing architecture , senate house is popular with the film and television industries as a shooting location ; often for official buildings . films that have featured the building include the 1995 version of richard iii ( interior of a government building ) , nineteen eighty - four ( exterior of o 'brien 's apartment building ) , blue ice ( a hotel ) , spy game ( lobby of cia headquarters ) , batman begins ( lobby of a court ) , the dark knight rises ( a costume ball ) , nanny mcphee and the big bang ( a war office ) and fast & furious 6 ( moscow interpol hq ) . for television , the building has featured in jeeves and wooster ( the exterior of wooster 's manhattan apartment building ) and the day of the triffids amongst other programmes .