Downing College

Downing stands apart from the other colleges in more than its style. It was founded in 1800 (no other college appeared between 1596 and 1869), and its architecture is neo-classical, laid out around an open lawn rather than a medieval courtyard. A will took effect on the death of Sir George Downing in 1749: his fortune was to found a college if the named heirs left no children. A cousin's widow, Margaret, refused to hand the estates over, and the case dragged on in Chancery until George III granted a charter in 1800.

What to look for

• The great lawn. William Wilkins planned a huge campus-style college, but money was short after the legal fight. Only the east and west ranges were built at first, and the chapel completing the third side arrived in 1951. The fourth side is a tree-filled paddock, so the court is open rather than closed, and it is among the largest in Cambridge.
• A door from Number 10. The family fortune came from the first baronet, who built 10 Downing Street, and a door that once belonged to it is in use at the college.
• The Heong Gallery. Opened in 2016 in a converted stables building, it shows modern and contemporary art. The conversion by Caruso St John won a RIBA regional award.
• The Howard Building and Theatre. These newer buildings, behind the main court, date from the 2000s and the Theatre opened in 2010.

Wilkins's plan and what became of it

Planning fell to the estate's trustees, a group that counted both archbishops, of Canterbury and of York, and heads of Cambridge colleges among its members. They brought in the neo-classical architect William Wilkins. His design was a campus in a single scheme, with a grand entrance on Downing Street and a court stretching back to Lensfield Road. The long lawsuit had reduced the estate, so the scheme was cut back, and the library and chapel intended for the south side were shelved. The university bought a large share of the northern land, formerly known as the Pembroke Leys; scientific buildings there now make up the Downing Site.

Law, medicine and burning the boat

The college was founded "for the encouragement of the study of Law and Medicine and of the cognate subjects of Moral and Natural Science", and it has a reputation as the "Law College". On the river it keeps a bumps-race custom: when a Downing boat wins the headship, an old wooden eight is burned and the winning crew jumps over the flames. The women's first boat took the Lents headship in 2004 and again in 2020, and the men's first boat held the headship in the mid-1990s.

Practical notes

The college is on Regent Street, and the Porters' Lodge can be reached on 01223 334800. The website's contact page gives no public visiting hours that we could confirm, so ring ahead or ask at the lodge.