Queens' College, Cambridge - Buildings and Location

Buildings and Location

Queens' College has some of the most recognisable buildings in Cambridge. It combines medieval and modern architecture in extensive gardens. It sits astride the River Cam, its two halves joined across the river by the famous Mathematical Bridge. Queens' College is located in the centre of the city. It is the second southernmost of the colleges on the banks of the Cam, primarily on the East bank. (The others — in distance order — are King's, Clare, Trinity Hall, Trinity, St John's, and Magdalene to the north and Darwin to the south.)

President's Lodge of Queens' is the oldest building on the river at Cambridge (ca. 1460). Queens' College is also one of only two colleges with buildings on its main site on both sides of the River Cam (the other being St John's).

Old Court was built between 1448 and 1451. Stylistic matters suggest that this was designed by and built under the direction of the master mason Reginald Ely, who was also at the same time erecting the original Old Court of King's College (now part of the University Old Schools opposite Clare College), and the start of King's College Chapel. Whereas King's was built using very expensive stone, Queens' Old Court was made using cheaper clunch with a red brick skin. Queens' was finished within two years, whereas King's Old Court was never finished, and the chapel took nearly a century to build.

Cloister Court: the Cloister walks were erected in the 1490s to connect the Old Court of 1448/9 with the riverside buildings of the 1460s, thus forming the court now known as Cloister Court.

Walnut Tree Court was erected 1616–18. Walnut Tree Building on the East side of the court dates from around 1617 and was the work of the architects Gilbert Wragge and Henry Mason at a cost of £886.9s. Only the ground floor of the original construction remains after a fire in 1777, so it was rebuilt from the first floor upwards between 1778–1782, and battlements were added to it in 1823. This court was formerly the site of a Carmelite monastery founded in 1292, but is now the location of the College Chapel and various fellows' rooms. The present walnut tree in the court stands on the line of a former wall of the monastery, and was a replacement form an older one in the same position after which the court was named.

The College Chapel in Walnut Tree Court was designed by George Frederick Bodley and consecrated in 1891. It follows the traditional College Chapel form of an aisleless nave with rows of pews on either side, following the plan of monasteries, reflecting the origins of many Colleges as a place for training priests for the ministry. The triptych of paintings on the altarpiece panel may have originally been part of a set of five paintings, are late 15th Century Flemish, and are attributed to the 'master of the View of St Gudule'. They depict, from left to right, the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Resurrection of Jesus, and Christ's Appearance to the Disciples.

Essex Building, erected 1756–60, is so named after its builder, James Essex the Younger (1722–1784), a local carpenter who had earlier erected the wooden bridge.

Friar's Court: in response to the college's growth in student numbers during the 19th century, the President's second garden was taken as the site for new student accommodation called Friars' Building, designed by W. M. Fawcett and built in 1886. It is flanked on the East by the Dokett Building, designed by C. G. Hare and built in 1912 from thin red Daneshill brick with Corsham stone dressings and mullioned windows. The Erasmus Building completes what it now called Friar's Court on the West. It was designed by Sir Basil Spence and erected in 1959, and is notable for being the first college building on the Backs to be designed in the Modernist tradition.

Fisher Building, named after St John Fisher, was erected in 1936 and designed by G.C. Drinkwater. It continued the Queens' tradition of red brick. The window frames are of teak, and all internal woodwork is oak. It was the first student accommodation in Queens' to lie west of the river andwas also the first building in Queens' to have bathrooms and toilets on the staircase landings close to the student rooms. These were so clearly evident that it prompted an observer at that time to comment that the building "seemed to have been designed by a sanitary engineer".

Cripps Court, incorporating Lyon Court (named after Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother), was designed by Powell, Moya and Partners and built in stages between 1972 and 1980. It is rather brutalistic architecture and houses a bar, creche, and gymnasium with squash courts, 171 student bedrooms, three Fellows' Flats, a solarium, Dining Hall and kitchens, various function rooms, a large multipurpose auditorium (The Fitzpatrick Hall) and three Combination Rooms (Junior for undergraduate students, Middle for Postgraduates, and Senior for Fellows of the College). It was the benefaction of the Cripps Foundation and was the largest building ever put up by the College. A fourth floor was added in 2007, providing student accommodation and fellows' offices. Disabled access ramps and security doors were added in 2010.