George Gilbert Scott

Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) was a very productive architect of the English Gothic Revival who designed or altered more than 800 buildings. This page covers the elder Scott only, since two of his sons and a grandson were also prominent architects.

St John's College

Scott designed the chapel of St John's College. The college chose him after deciding in 1861 that it needed a new chapel, and the building went up between 1866 and 1869 in place of the small medieval one. He had just finished the chapel at Exeter College in Oxford and drew inspiration from Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. A tower was added to his original plan, which had shown only a small flèche.

Old Schools

In 1864 Scott produced plans for an extension of the Old Schools on the site of the Old Court. The southern range was complete by 1867 and included a third storey over the 14th-century south range of the schools quadrangle. John Loughborough Pearson later linked the Scott and Cockerell buildings.

St Mary the Less

Between 1856 and 1857 Scott restored the Church of St Mary the Less. He removed the panelling that had been fitted in 1741.

St Paul's Church

Scott designed the parsonage behind the Church of St Paul in 1853-54 for his brother, who was the vicar. The building is now the Cambridge Muslim College.

Visiting

The Old Schools and the churches have their own pages with access details.