Senate House (University of Cambridge)

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Senate House Passage in the snow with Senate House on the right and Gonville and Caius College on the left.
The Senate House viewed from King's Parade.
Class lists for Part III of the Mathematical Tripos, June 2005

The Senate House of the University of Cambridge in the centre of the city is used mainly for degree ceremonies and formerly for meetings of the Council of the Senate. It was designed by Sir James Burrell and built in 1722–1730 by architect James Gibbs in a neo-classical style using Portland stone.[1] The ceremony to lay the first stone was performed by Thomas Crosse, then Vice-chancellor, on 22 June 1722.[2] The site was previously used for houses, which were purchased by an Act of Parliament, dated 11 June 1720. It was officially opened in July 1730, although the western end was not completed until 1768.

The Senate House was originally intended to be one side of a quadrangle, however the rest of the structure was never completed.[3]

At the end of the academic year, class lists for most degrees are posted up on the outer wall of the building. The results of Part II and Part III of the Mathematical Tripos, however, are read out to the waiting students from the balcony of the Senate House, after which piles of class-lists are thrown to the ground like confetti in a time-honoured manner.

During the night of 7–8 June 1958 a party of engineering students from Gonville & Caius College placed an Austin Seven van (from which they had removed the engine and rear axle) on the apex of the Senate House roof.[4][5]

As part of the university's 800th anniversary celebrations, the side of the Senate House was illuminated with a lightshow, illustrating aspects of the history of the university.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LNouAAAAMAAJ&dq=senate%20house%20cambridge&lr=&as_brr=1&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q=senate%20house%20cambridge&f=false
  2. ^ Cooper, Charles Henry (1866) "Memorials of Cambridge (Volume 3)", Cambridge: Wm Metcalfe.
  3. ^ http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/england/cambridge/gibbs/senate.html
  4. ^ Nigel Balchin; Peter Davy. "A van that went up in the world". http://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/college/past/legend/. Retrieved 2007-09-05. 
  5. ^ Patrick Sawer, Cambridge University's 1958 car on roof prank secrets revealed, The Daily Telegraph, 28 June 2008.
  6. ^ http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2009011601

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 52°12′20″N 0°07′03″E / 52.2055861°N 0.117377778°E / 52.2055861; 0.117377778 (Senate House (University of Cambridge))

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