Trinity College Dublin

A present Fellow of Trinity once observed that the architecture of the College reminded him of the music of Handel. One sees this at once the beautiful West Front, the porticos of Sir William Chambers in the Front Square, the gracious lines of classical architecture (Maxwell, 1956, p. 1).

Professor Constantia Maxwell, professor at and historian of Trinity College Dublin, chose to begin her history of the College with a reference to its stately architecture, with its eighteenthcentury neoclassical restraint, which she goes on to contrast to the turbulent late sixteenth century, in which the College was founded.

Indeed, the architecture of the College is what first and most directly impresses the visitor. Its academic tradition is no more obviously visible than that of any other university. The treasures of its library, which include the Book of Kells, can only be discovered by a leisurely examination of its stacks and collections. But its architecture immediately captures the visitor's attention. The main entrance to the campus is through the great, porticoed West Front. On passing through this structure, the visitor enters

... a vast open square ... of granite and brick, cobblestones and lawn, trees, sky, and (usually) quietness, the spacious formality of which is unparalleled in the Collegiate architecture of the British Isles (McParland, 1976, p. 1166).

College campuses are one of the most distinctive types of architectural entity. Commonly a college o

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Dublin was both compact and most unprepossessing: The College consisted of a small square court not much larger on its inside, as it has been described, than the space that would be covered by two tennis courts stretching side by side. The buildings were made of thin red Dutch brick, with probably a good deal of woodwork inserted. They were two stories high, the roofs being punctuated by large dormer windows formed for leaden sashes. On the east and west sides of the square were students' chambers. On the south side, which lay between the present Library and the centre of the Examination Hall, the Fellows and probably some students resided. The Provost's lodgings were probably in the southwest corner. On the north side was the steeple of the old monastery [the site had belonged to a monastery, suppressed long before], with the Porter's Lodge on the ground floor.... (Reproduced in Maxwell, 1956, p. 11). At the center of the courtyard was the College Pump, from which the water supply was obtained. The College Pump became a major fixture of the campus culture, especially in the eighteenth century, when students came to douse their enemies under it. By this time the main College Pump was in a new location, but the origin

Category: Arts - T