Located on the Victoria Embankment, London. Designed and built by Sir William Chambers in 1776, Somerset House originally housed The Admiralty.
In 1837 Somerset House became the home of The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, which remained there for 150 years.
Somerset House again changed roles and today the elegant building has numerous functions as museum exhibitions, corporate events and offices are all enclosed within its historic walls. Major refurbishments of the building commenced in 1998.
Gilbert collection
Working with the architects Inskip and Jenkins and Heery International, MBL surveyed, scheduled, designed and supplied the complete ironmongery package and master key system for the Gilbert Collection, this included the provision of High Security showcase locks, major master key system and both modern and historic ironmongery packages of over 400 doors, including a unique development of a covered escutcheon plate to blend in the modern cylinder lock system to the historic settings. MBL continued to service the Gilbert Collection from 1998 to 2008 when they relocated to the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Hermitage collection
This phase of works in Somerset House involved the development of specific rooms for the display of a rotating collection of exhibitions from the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. The Hermitage room’s exhibitions ended in 2007 and the display rooms are now used by the trust for temporary displays.
This phase also included extensive re-development of the Second Floor for office use by The Somerset House Trust. Further development included the Stunning Fountains which host the famous Somerset House ice rink each year and the building of the Underground Service Building.
MBL continued to provide the ironmongery packages for this phase of works, including the design and manufacture of unique locks to allow the replicas of the “Hermitage handles” to be used on the collection rooms.
The present
MBL continues to provide comprehensive ironmongery and locksmith services, including the maintenance of the extensive master system to the Somerset House Trust and are proud of the long working relationship with the trust of over the many years and developments on this world famous site.