This aerial view of the southern end of Newnham College shows how the later 20th and 21st century buildings have been added behind the original 19th century buildings, without impacting on the gardens or Champney’s original design.
The more recent buildings include (clockwise from top left) the Horner-Markwick Library (roof seen behind Sidgwick Hall), the Fawcett Building, the Dorothy Garrod Building, the Rosalind Franklin Building and Lloyd Lodge.
To the right of the photograph can be seen the neighbouring buildings of Ridley Hall , and at the top of the image is the University’s Sidgwick site, with its prominent Raised Faculty Building.
The architect of the 1938 Fawcett Building was Elisabeth Scott. Scott is best known as architect of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the first British public building of note to be designed by a woman.
The Fawcett Building was incorporated into the 2018 Dorothy Garrod Building, retaining its distinctive façade. This image shows the building before the additions.
The Fawcett Building is named for mathematician and alumna Philippa Garrett Fawcett, who was placed “above the Senior Wrangler” in Part I of the Mathematical Tripos in 1890, and after her mother, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, the distinguished suffragist.
More information about the Fawcetts can be found in our Biographies.
Lloyd Lodge on Newnham Walk is the Principal’s residence. Built with a bequest from Mrs. Jessie Lloyd in memory of her daughter, M. E. H. Lloyd (Newnham College, 1913–17), it was designed by Louis Osman and completed in 1958.
The building was originally designed with an open central atrium, which was enclosed in 1993 by Greenberg and Hawkes of Cambridge.
The Rosalind Franklin Building, by Allies and Morrison, was completed in 1995. It provides 40 single rooms and 10 two-person flats. The building now faces the Dorothy Garrod, with a garden between the two.
The building is named for the x-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin, more information about whom is available on our Biographies page.
The Horner Markwick Library, by John Miller + Partners (completed 2004), refers to the original library in its vaulted ceilings, in maintaining the axes set up by the Yates Thompson Library, in the colour scheme, and in the generous top-lighting.
As well as gaining a Commendation from the Civic Trust Awards, Newnham Library received the 2004 David Urwin Award, celebrating the design of new and extended or altered buildings in Cambridge.
The Horner Markwick Library is named for Isaline “Squizzie” Horner and Emily Markwick, two former College Librarians who, at different times, helped fund the Library’s expansion and development. (Find out more about them in our Biographies.)
Find our more about Newnham College’s Library and collections.
“A jewel box of a design” was how Historic England described the Katharine Stephen Rare Books Library, giving it a Grade II listing as part of the nation’s heritage.
The “sensitive and striking” Katharine Stephen Library was built in in 1981-1982 to the designs of distinguished architects Joanna van Heyningen OBE and Birkin Haward. It was designed to store the College’s collection of around 6,000 rare books, manuscripts and artefacts.
The library was named after Katharine Stephen (1856-1924), Principal between 1911 and 1920, and for many years responsible for the College library. Her love of books and the arts ran in the family – Katharine Stephen was the cousin of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf.
The former Porters’ Lodge, by Buckland & Haywood, FFRIBA, was completed in 1949, and replaced by the Dorothy Garrod Building in 2018.
The Newnham Coat of Arms was incorporated in the pediment of the main doorway, from the studio of Mr William Bloye in Birmingham. During the 2018 renovations, the pediment was moved to the Pfeiffer Building, which is of a similar date.
In front of the Porters’ Lodge were wrought-iron gates, known as the Cohen Gates and bearing the arms of the Cohen family. These commemorate the benefactions to the College of alumna Hannah Floretta Cohen and her father, Sir Benjamin Cohen Bt. The gates were designed by Buckland & Haywood at the same time as the Lodge itself. The gates now form one end of the Strachey Garden.
The Strachey Building by Christophe Grillet was completed in 1968, and was replaced by the Dorothy Garrod Building in 2018.
It was named for Pernel Strachey, a Newnhamite and former Principal, more information about whom is available on our Biographies page.