University's 1960s buildings given listed status

Darwin College's Dining Hall is one of two buildings to be listed at Grade II

Two buildings that form part of a University of Cambridge college have been given new listed protection.

The post-war buildings were created to provide a gatehouse, graduate accommodation and a dining hall for Darwin College, which was established in 1964.

It was the university’s first college to admit both men and women and the first exclusively for postgraduate students.

The Dining Hall and the Rayne Building have both been listed at Grade II by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England.

The Dining Hall is an octagonal room with a natural pine ceiling supported by concrete beams

The structures were built between 1967 and 1969 by architectural firm Howell, Killick, Partridge and Amis (HKPA), which Historic England said was renowned for its post-war university buildings.

HKPA designed other Cambridge University buildings including the University Graduate Centre at Granta Place, also listed at Grade II, and student accommodation at Sidney Sussex College.

Arts and Heritage Minister, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, said: "I am delighted that these accomplished buildings have been listed in time for the 60th anniversary of the college’s foundation.

"This status will ensure that they are protected and can continue to nurture and inspire exceptional graduate minds for generations to come."

The buildings were designed to blend in, and connect with, the college's existing buildings

The Dining Hall is an octagonal room raised on reinforced concrete stilts.

It is characterised by natural pine ceiling supported by reinforced concrete beams, as well as an octagonal skylight and slit windows.

The Rayne Building consists of a gatehouse and an accommodation block of 34 bedrooms.

It provides an internal link between Newnham Grange and the Hermitage buildings, which were both listed at Grade II in 1972.

Detail of the stairway inside the Rayne Building, built in the late 1960s

John Dix, the college's bursar, said: "We are pleased that the sympathetic design of the buildings, and the sense of cohesion they create within the college, has been recognised in this way.

"While the historic significance and aesthetic appeal of Newnham Grange and the Hermitage have long been recognised, the Dining Hall and the Rayne Building are more than simply filler.

"They are fine modern buildings central to much of Darwin’s life as a college, and a worthy reflection of the ambitions of the college’s founders."