Estates Bursar David Anderson takes a look at the history of the campus through its architecture.
C Social moved into its current location in 1967. Previously, its boys were housed in half of the long dormitory which is now F Social.
The present-day C Social building’s main entrance area, on the other hand, was originally the Infirmary – built in 1891 at a cost of £2,750, and designed by Sir Thomas Jackson, who was also responsible for the Chapel and Dining Hall. A 1949 schematic of it is pictured below.
Jackson’s Infirmary replaced an older building which still exists between the Dining Hall and Covered Passage. If you walk up the steps from the plate wash into Covered Passage, you will see on your right-hand side a photograph of that pre-1891 Infirmary – you are in fact standing just in front of where the photo was taken, in the 1880s. Its structure’s now been ingeniously built into both the kitchens and E Social.
The new Infirmary was extended firstly where Tutor’s wing now sits, with a timber-framed ward which was demolished in the 1970s and rebuilt in brickwork. What is now Sub-Tutor’s wing was once a single-storey concrete ward, demolished in 1999.
A big change came in 1966, when a new health centre was constructed next to G Social, while a Tutor’s house was added to the existing Infirmary (now imminently the home of C Social). Both of these structures were designed by David Roberts, a fellow of Magdalene College Cambridge teaching architecture, who was also responsible for many successful buildings at Cambridge University. Everyone is allowed an ‘off day’!
Interesting fact
The Sub-Tutor’s wing, and previously the concrete wing, were built over one of the College’s air-raid shelters. We only know of two – with the other one being at the edge of Pup’s Field (in front of L Social).
