Buildings: Pre1965
These are the buildings that were part of the college before 1965. Not all of them were for student or academic use and I may not have the details correct - please provide any additional information you may have.
The College map from 1937 only covers the main campus. At that stage the buildings in use were Founders itself, the Bungalow (which housed the College Secretary by then) which had been built to accommodate the architect while Founders was being built, the Physics and Botany Laboratories (in what became called the Horton Building), the Chemistry Laboratory (in what became called the Moore Laboratory), the Swimming Pool, the Boiler Room and the Lodges at the main and second gates (this one is referred to as The Gardeners Lodge).
By 1965, a number of buildings on the other side of the A30 had been acquired and the Williams Laboratory had been built. Williams was built after the end of World War 2 as a temporary building and has outlasted, Williamson (the first), Athlone and Cameron illustrating that the practice of Chemistry is far less destructive to the fabric of a building than housing undergraduates ever was!
You can see larger views of these plans by clicking on the magnifying glass.
The Founders building is the heart of the College. As soon as you enter the grounds through the main gates it strikes you in all its glory. Many alumni were struck by it when they arrived for their interview or when they first started their course and spent many hours in it during their student days.
It has its own section in the top menu of the site and also appears in the 'Hall of Residence' section
Pictures of Crossland's Bungalow are difficult to come by, so what we have here are pictures of the building after it had been clad in white timber and its use converted to a students union building in 1965. It was regarded as a historic building when it was built c 1879 and there was an outcry when it was demolished in 2015 to make way for the new library building. The bungalow was designed by the architect W H Crossland as a home for himself and his family while he oversaw the construction of the Founder’s Building.
The building of the swimming pool and the building that housed was completed in 1983. Along with the gymnasium (which was housed in the Founders in the basement below the Library) it provided indoors sports facilities for staff and students. The pool was very much rooted in that earlier age. It sometimes felt as if it had not been updated since the College first opened. The process for getting access to it probably deterred many but was seen as a challenge by others.
As the name of the building suggests this building was originally the boiler house for most of the college buildings (at the time) with piped water going underground to Founders via a tunnel that came out under 'the boog tube' near Founders West. It was built as one of the first building on the campus in 1886
There was rarely a reason for students to access the building (other than so they could get into the tunnels and get into Founders).
The Gardeners Lodge (together with the main gatehouse) are two of those buildings you often see but rarely give much thought to - or is that just me. As the name suggests, it was originally a lodge for the gardeners and given the size of the campus and the extensive shrubs, trees and bushes that (used to) occupy it there must have been some significant work undertaken in the early years of the college. I've no idea what the current use of the building is but it is certainly still there.
The Horton Laboratory was built after the first world war with the building being completed in 1926. It was built to house a Physics Laboratory on the ground floor and a Botany department on the first floor. It functioned in this way until 1967 when the Botany department moved out (to Huntersdale in Virginia Water) and Horton became a building dedicated to Physics.
The Moore Laboratory was the first academic building to be put built after the completion of the Founders Building and came into service in circa 1888. It was to house the Chemistry department for the next 60 years and had within it a Chemical & Botanical laboratory. In 1989 the Botany department moved out.
After a block on building for some years (because of priorities set after WW2) The Williams Laboratory was built in 1952 – whilst it was built as a temporary pre-fab building after the war it has outlasted many of the other buildings on the campus.