The Senate House

The Van

The picture above shows the Senate House, wth an Austin van parked on top. This really happened, in 1958. The Caius college site has a full description of the plot, penned by one of the purpetrators, which is very well written.

The Senate House

The Senate House is a classical-looking building the right of Kings College, that most people ignore most of the time. It is where the governing body of the University, the Senate, sits, where results of exams are posted and also where students receive their degrees. The results are posted on notice boards called screens, which sit at the foot of the wall in the above picture.

The Cambridge graduation ceremony is so silly it deserves a decent description, which is elsewhere.

For you architecture and history junkies, here's some of the Senate House's vital statistics. It was built between 1722 and 1730 of Portland stone, under the direction of the architect James Gibbs of Aberdeen. The style of the exterior is a cross between Wren, Palladian revival, baroque (Pietro Cortona) and French. Inside is one large room with wooden galleries on three sides. The galleries were fitted between 1725 and 1730 by James Essex the Elder. The rococo plastered ceiling is the work of the Italians Artari and Bagutti. The cast iron railings around the Senate House were made in 1730 and so were among the earliest in Cambridge. Originally it was intended to form one side of a three-sided court, but as happened during the construction of Downing College, the money ran out, so the Senate House was the only part built.

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