A short history of the Hall

Much of the following is taken from Pembroke College Cambridge A Celebration, edited by A.V. Grimstone.

The hall was originally a single-storied building with a pitched roof. It was small, but adequate for a society that until the 1870s rarely numbered more than a dozen Fellows and forty students. In 1452, the roof was removed and a flat ceiling installed; above it, Laurence Booth built a new library.
In 1634 the hall was renovated, with new panelling and carved screens, much of which is now at the high table end of the present hall. A classical doorcase was added at the screens entrance in Old Court. This was moved in 1863 to the entrance to the garden from Ivy Court.

An engraving from Loggan's Cantavbrigia Illustrata (c.1681) showing Old Court and the Hall's classic doorcase, added in 1634

The Hall's classic doorcase was moved in 1863

 to the entrance to the garden from Ivy Court

The hall remained unchanged until the mid 1800s when the college, fearful that the balance of it’s recently created Buildings Fund might be appropriated for University needs, decided to renovate the old Hall. The architect chosen was John Cory, of Carlisle, whose brother Alexander Cory had been a Fellow of Pembroke (1839-56). Cory’s work (completed 1862) was generally approved by antiquaries and historians.
The exterior of the Hall was re-Gothicised, the old windows remodelled and the classic doorcase removed. Inside, Cory designed a new oak ceiling, based on fragments which he found concealed behind panelling in the gallery.

The medieval Hall, after Cory's renovations of 1862. The panelling and the carving above the fireplace, both dating from 1634, are now at the high-table end of the Hall. Photograph of about 1870.

The panelling and carving from the medieval hall date back to 1634

The hall though, was not to remain as Cory had intended for long. In 1870, John Power became Master and brought with him a new zeal for the development of the College.

John Power (1818-80), Master, 1870-80, by W. Vizard

Undergraduate numbers were increasing and the college buildings were seen as cramped and difficult to extend. A fashionable architect was needed, and the College’s choice fell on Alfred Waterhouse who had done much college work in Oxford and Cambridge.

Alfred waterhouse (1830-1905)

 Potrait by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, in the National Portrait Gallery

Waterhouse first designed the Red Buildings, in French Renaissance style, before designing a new Master’s Lodge.

Red Buildings, drawing by Waterhouse of the elevation towards the college 

 In 1874 the old Master’s Lodge was demolished and the south range of Old court was removed, opening up a vista to the Chapel.
Once the Lodge and the south range were gone, the Hall looked ramshackle, and in 1875 the Fellows agreed to let Waterhouse demolish the Hall completely. The new Hall (1875-6) was much larger than the old and reverted to the original arrangement of a single room with an open timber roof.

The Hall, elevation towards First Court, signed by Waterhouse and dated 1875.

 This shows the Hall as built, before the drastic alterations of 1926

By the mid-1920s the Fellows had become thoroughly disenchanted with Waterhouse’s Hall and the open roof structure. In 1926 the College decided to repeat what had been done to the medieval Hall in the fifteenth century and remove the open roof, put in a flat ceiling and introduce two storeys of rooms above.

Sir Aston Webb by Solomon Joseph Solomon

 All this was the work of Sir Aston Webb. At the same time the wall between the Hall and Fellows’ combination room was taken down, the later being made into a high-table dais.

The Hall as it is today

 

The Hall prior to dinner

The Hall has changed little since 1926 and still remains a focal point for the College. This summer, the College plans to carry out minor renovations on the High Table end of the Hall, primarily designed to improve noise reduction. Similar designs are planned for the main body of the Hall next summer.