Athlone was the women's hall in the residential area of the campus. It was opened in 1970 (probably looking a lot cleaner than in this picture). It housed a large common room area, buttery and a dining hall that served both Cameron and Athlone, and Williamson when that was opened in 1973. The internal corridors were gloomy, narrow and long with various turrets providing smaller groups of rooms. It was demolished in 2006, so lasted only half as long as those still alive who were its first residents.
Buildings : 1970-'74
This section includes the buildings in use during the first half of the 70s.
The major change at the beginning of this period was the opening of Athlone & Cameron as new halls of residence effectively opening up a part of the campus that had previously been pasture and woodland. I had never realised that these two halls only came into service the year I arrived, my assumption was that they'd been there for a few years before then. Two new lecture rooms were opened, a pre-fab building just off Founders Square and close to the Student Union building. I think Highfield ceased being used primarily for staff accommodation and became a hall for married students - but I know very little about it.
The Bourne Laboratory opened for Chemistry students and the older Moore and Williams buildings became the base for Biochemistry. A new Computer Building was put up and the building started on the Tolansky building. Williamson Hall was opened in 1973 as a mixed hall.
Cameron Hall, the testosterone centre of the campus with its long corridors, turrets and occasional peace. Some of the rooms had balconies and the ground floor rooms provided an easy escape when the corridors were too narrow to negotiate.
It was opened in 1970 as a men's hall of residence (at the same time as Athlone) and became a mixed hall in 1987
A prefab building between the old SU building and the computer room pre-fab to the North. I did a lot of my second and third year in these but they were knocked down (or possibly just fell over) to make room for the Windsor building. The magnificent trees on the rectangles just outside were always a pleasant distraction when the lecturer was not too engaging.
Williamson, the newest of the old halls, was first opened in 1973-4. Like Athlone and Cameron, its architecture can be described as 'brutalist', a style typical of the era and noticeably different from the chateau-like Founder's building and the attractive mansion style of Kingswood.
Work began in 1967
Bourne was a specialist laboratory designed for 250 undergrads and 50 postgrads of Chemistry. It was opened in 1970 opposite Williamson Field. In 1984 the Biochemistry department also moved in. When first built it was a very imposing building but a new building (Wolfson) has now been built (1987) in front of it and it is almost impossible to visualise how it once looked.
Highfield Court was acquired by the College in 1948 and was used initially for staff accommodation and for tennis courts (for staff use). It was the main house on the Highfield Estate where the A30 meets the road into Englefield Green. It was surrounded by 8 acres of land. It came into student use at the beginning of the 70s (possibly end of the 60s - please leave a comment below if you know) and was used for married students.
The Tolansky Laboratory was completed in 1973 as an extension to the Physics Department. It was located adjacent to the Horton Laboratory which had housed the Physics department from the time the college had first opened. In 1983 the Physics department from Bedford College moved in as well and they were joined by further influxes as the assimulation of Westfield and Chelsea Colleges occurred.
Work started in 1971 on land that was previously part of the Botany department garden and immediately in front of the computer room pre-fab and it was completed in 1973.
The building was further extended in 1978 (you will notice that the brick colour matching was not that accurate!) and a second smaller extension in 1982.
The Computer Centre operates as a service unit independently from the Department of Computer Science