Architecture The Grove (1813) A Grade II listed building, first owned by its architect William Custance. Emma Darwin lived here between 1883 and 1896, after the death of her husband Charles.

Hall & Central Building (1960-63) Sir Denys Lasdun (1914 –2001) was Fitzwilliam’s original architect, and the College was his first university building. He later designed the University of East Anglia and additions to Christ’s College, Cambridge. Lasdun was awarded the 1977 Royal Gold Medal.

Squash Courts (1981) Designed by David Roberts & Geoffrey Clarke.

New Court (1985) Designed by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard, New Court incorporated ideas contributed by junior and senior members of Fitzwilliam. The intersecting staircases create friendly, social spaces and in 1989 New Court won the first ever David Urwin Heritage Award for Best New Building. These awards honour the finest projects in Cambridge.

Chapel (1991) MacCormac Jamieson Prichard designed the Chapel to suggest a floating ship, the hull of which is revealed in American white oak panelling through the fine white concrete. The Chapel won a 1992 Civic Trust Award, the 1993 Carpenters’ Award and the 1993 David Urwin Award for Best New Building.

Wilson Court (1994) This intimate courtyard’s 48 student rooms, conference rooms and lecture theatre are all acoustically independent. Recessed and protruding windows create dynamic relief in the brick façades. Designed by van Heyningen and Haward, it won a 1996 RIBA Award.

Gatehouse Court (2003) Gatehouse Court created a new entrance and frontage on Storey’s Way, reorienting the College to accord with Lasdun’s masterplan. Designed by Allies and Morrison, it won a 2005 RIBA Award and, together with the Auditorium, won the 2005 Brick Development Association (BDA) Award for Building of the Year.

Auditorium (2004)

The 250-seat Auditorium, by Allies and Morrison, is built from a brick similar to The Grove’s, and extends below ground, giving the seating galleries a ground-level relationship with the landscape. Praised for its acoustics, it won an RIBA Award, a Concrete Society Award and the BDA Award for Best Public Building in 2005.

The Olisa Library (2009)

Edward Cullinan Architects specified brick to match the adjoining Lasdun east wing, and the European oak of the west facade will weather to complement the brick of The Grove. The library is an environmentally sensitive building which completes the College. Ted Cullinan, who had worked with Lasdun on the College masterplan in the 1960s, was the recipient of the 2008 Royal Gold Medal.

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Wildflower meadow

‘Dark Planet’ sculpture

‘Community gardens’

History Fitzwilliam’s origins go back to 1869, and it moved to this site in 1963. As Fitzwilliam College it is 50 years old receiving its Royal Charter in 1966. A community of 450 undergraduates, 300 graduates, 56 Fellows, 31 Bye Fellows and over 100 staff, the Master is Mrs Nicola Padfield.

Fitzwilliam is built in the historic grounds of an elegant 1813 house, The Grove. The shape of the College as you see it today originates in a 1960 masterplan by architect Sir Denys Lasdun, one of the most internationally admired British architects of the 1960s. Fitzwilliam is part of Lasdun’s formative early work and his best-known building is the National Theatre in London.

When the first students moved here the College consisted of the Hall, the Central Building, and staircases A to P only. The entrance was on Huntingdon Road. The Grove became part of the College in 1988. Staircases A, B and C are currently being renovated.

The College’s gardens contain modern, naturalistic and traditional planting in a nineteenth-century landscape. The architecture and gardens span nearly 200 years, but the site’s history is considerably longer. In 2008 archaeologists uncovered the remains of a Bronze Age farmstead — the earliest evidence of settlement in Cambridge.

The Olisa Library The Olisa Library, opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in April 2010, and named in 2013 following a donation by alumnus Ken Olisa OBE, is the newest addition to the College’s award-winning buildings. With computer suites, wireless internet connectivity, open access to 40,000 volumes, and 215 study spaces, it is open 24 hours a day. “Our role is to support our students in all aspects of their study. We try to get to know them, their academic needs, and their career aspirations.” - Christine RobertsLewis, Librarian.

Storey’s Way Cambridge CB3 0DG +44 (0)1223 332000 www.fitz.cam.ac.uk

Fitzwilliam College

Architecture and Gardens

Gardens Storey’s Way entrance and Gatehouse Court The College entrance is flanked by ‘living barbed wire’, Colletia cruciata. In summer the beds come alive with devil’s tobacco and red hot poker. In Gatehouse Court, Primula and Dicentra nestle among ferns and ivy-leaved Cyclamen flower under the copper beech.

Sunken Garden An abstract conception of water, this ‘planted moat’ uses fountain grass and salvias punctuated by blue Agapanthus to create the illusion. Plum-coloured Pittosporum ‘reflects’ the beech crowns.

Lime Tree Avenue In spring, grassy banks erupt with squills, glory of the snow (Chionodoxa luciliae), snake’s head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris), wild daffodils and rare white helleborines.

Wilson Court Along the boundary with Murray Edwards College are the ‘community gardens’, a series of raised beds for college members to cultivate. Euphorbia mellifera lines the path towards Gatehouse Court and the Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sumi-nagashi’) is a point of focus in front of Y staircase.

‘The First Undergraduate’ Old box trees and a huge oak shade this bronze by Christopher Marvell, commissioned for the College’s 125th anniversary. In spring, the ground is covered by woodland perennials and hellebores. The canopy is of limes, yews, false acacias and horse chestnut.

The Grove The plane tree (Platanus hispanicus) between the Chapel and The Grove is over 200 years old. The climbing rose and snail-shaped topiaries are newer additions. The sundial parterre contains seasonally-changing beds, with hyacinths in spring, vegetables and summer-flowering annuals. The Acer ‘Drummondii’ on the Copse border was planted by the King and Queen of Spain in 1988.

Library Head Gardener Steve Kidger and his team have created an entirely new landscape. Rudbeckia and pampas grass follow the tower’s curve. The triangular bed holds hostas, Siberian iris, wedding cake trees (Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’), Echinacea for summer colour and tussock grass for winter structure. Behind the library a wildflower meadow attracts wildlife and insects.

Tree Court In 1883, Emma Darwin wrote “I never saw such a display of primroses ... especially under each of the beech trees”. New planting includes wood-rush (Luzula sylvatica) and Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’. The court contains English and North American oaks, Himalayan birch with peeling bark, and ‘Dark Planet’, a sculpture by David Harber, all edged by Geranium, Anthemis and pink bell-shaped buds of beauty bush (Kolkwitzia amabilis).

Fellows’ Court The lawn holds a Caucasian elm (Zelkova cretica). Outside N staircase is a Ginkgo biloba, a primeval species 270 million years old.