UCL Main Building

The massive portico you see ahead belongs to the Wilkins Building, which serves as the historic front door of University College London. When it opened in the late eighteen twenties, it stood as a radical statement in the heart of London. At a time when university education in England was strictly tied to the Church of England, this institution was designed as the first secular university in the country, intentionally excluding any chapel from its architecture. Augustus Pugin, a famous architect of the era, famously criticized the design as pagan, a title the founders wore as a badge of honor.