NA TURE 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1921. 



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London University Site. 



THE public must be getting puzzled and be- 

 wildered over the question of the site for 

 the University of London. Until recently it be- 

 lieved that the site at Bloomsbury had been defin- 

 itely decided upon, and it expected that active 

 preparations would shortly be made for the erec- 

 tion of buildings. There were good reasons for 

 the belief and for the expectation. A public an- 

 nouncement was made that the Government's 

 offer had been accepted, and that the purchase of 

 the site had been completed. A few months later 

 a temporary but very substantial building, pro- 

 vided by an anonymous donor at a cost of 

 20,oooZ., for the University Institute of Historical 

 Research, was actually erected on the Bloomsbury 

 site and formally opened by the President of the 

 Board of Education. This certainly looked as if 

 the innumerable discussions and delays had at 

 last resulted in something like definite action. 



Before the summer vacation, however, the 

 whole question was re-opened by the London 

 County Council, which invited the Board of 

 Education and the university to "explore the 

 possibilities " of a site on the Holland Park estate 

 before taking further action on the Bloomsbury 

 site. The Council's resolution refers to the Hol- 

 land Park site as "easily accessible from all parts 

 of London, costing much less money, very much 

 larger in area, and so affording room for ex- 

 pansion." 



Any opinion expressed by the London County 

 Council as the authority charged by Parliament 

 with the promotion of higher education in London 

 NO. 2/12, VOL. 1 08] 



is entitled to be received with respectful con- 

 sideration. It is diflScult, however, to see what 

 action the senate of the university can take. 

 Before accepting the Government's offer of the 

 Bloomsbury site the senate consulted the Council 

 and was assured that in the event of the site 

 being accepted the Council would consider making 

 a building grant up to a third of a million pounds. 

 Fortified with this expression of approval, the 

 senate accepted the offer, and the sale was com- 

 pleted. It is impossible to withhold sympathy 

 from a university which, having had one very 

 valuable site presented to it, and having already 

 partly acquired possession of it, is invited to 

 "explore the possibilities" of another site which 

 no one has offered to give. Beati possidentes : a 

 non-academic body would have a ready answer, 

 but it will probably be found that the senate of 

 a university is not utterly lacking in worldly 

 wisdom. 



The fact that the Bloomsbury site has been 

 accepted and is partially occupied is not of 

 itself decisive. If a blunder has been made, it 

 should be rectified. It is quite conceivable that 

 there are better sites than that at Bloomsbury, 

 but it is quite certain that Holland Park is not 

 such an one, however diligently its possibilities 

 are explored. The extent to which it is "easily 

 accessible from all parts of London " may be seen 

 by a moment's reference to a map. That it costs 

 " much less money " is quite probable : it would 

 probably cost even less if it were somewhat nearer 

 than it is to Hammersmith and Shepherd's Bush. 

 If this is the only serious alternative to the 

 Bloomsbury site, there can be no doubt as to the 

 result of exploring its possibilities, and time spent 

 in doing so would be time wasted. 



Too much time has, in our view, been wasted 

 already. The need for a dignified home for the 

 university is urgent and clamant. 



It will not be met by suggestions to explore the 

 possibilities of pleasant parks which happen to 

 be without a building. The site must be central ; 

 it must be within easy reach of the great colleges 

 and medical schools where the great bulk of the 

 teaching is carried on ; and it must be accessible to 

 the hundreds of teachers and others who partici- 

 pate in the work of the university and the thou- 

 sands of students who go up for its examinations. 

 Up to the present the Bloomsbury site is the one 

 that best complies with these requirements, and 

 if it were not already "signed, sealed, and de- 

 livered," there are sufficient reasons why it 

 should be. 



