Newnham College, Cambridge, by Basil Champneys (1842-1935). From 1874-c.1910. Image scanned from "Review of the Architectural Work of Basil Champneys, B. A.," p. 52. Here, Champneys used the Queen Anne style that he currently favoured for domestic architecture, complete with picturesque bow and oriel windows and dormers, believing that women's colleges should be "of a more domestic character," and adopting what he called the "Domestic Collegiate" style. In the same paper, delivered at the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1903, he explained that "the scheme as it now stands has been developed piecemeal; has started from small beginnings and grown step by step" (qtd. in Vickery 69). Every new addition, he explained, had seemed to be the last, but had later proved inadequate due to an increase in student numbers — a wonderful sign of the changes in expectation and opportunities for young women, even in this early period.
Text by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the source and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one. Click on the image for a larger picture.]
Sources
"Review of the Architectural Work of Basil Champneys, B. A." Academy Architecture. Vol. 45 (1914): 33-52. Internet Archive. Web. 26 March 2013.
Vickery, Margaret Birney. Building for Bluestocking: The Architecture of Women's Colleges in Late Victorian England. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1999. Print.
Last modified 26 March 2013