Preserving the character of the Dining Hall Nicholas Ray

Preserving the character of the Dining Hall

Nicholas Ray

An Emeritus Fellow and Architect describes past decisions about the architecture and design of the Hall, in advance of a full archaeological report

Members of the College will be aware of the substantial building programme nearing completion, effectively extending the kitchens for the first time in more than six hundred years. We will describe the results in a future Annual Report, including exciting archaeological findings – yet to be fully analysed and written up –which cast new light on the history of the Convent of St Radegund and the College that was founded on its site. This short piece acts as an introduction to the topic, concentrating on the work undertaken to the Hall when we anticipated the quincentenary of the College ’ s foundation, in 1996.

The major building project of the period was of course the construction of the Quincentenary Library, where the architects were appointed following a limited architectural competition. It was also decided to refresh the appearance of the Hall and the Bursar at the time, Professor John Killen, asked me to “ prepare a colour scheme ” . Older College members will recall that the Hall was a uniform chocolate brown, re-painted many times, with minimal gold leaf gilding on the flat face of the pilasters. I told John it was not a matter of just a colour scheme: decisions had to be taken as to what period the decoration would refer to and that would involve some specialist investigation. The brown colour scheme probably dated from 1875, when Alfred Waterhouse repaired the north-facing oriel window, repaired the chestnut roof, re-arranged the west end screen, and constructed the Little Hall, subsequently demolished in the 1960s. The panelling itself, however, was early eighteenth-century, dating from 1703 to be precise.

A Committee was established, and we interviewed several architects working in historic building conservation, appointing Richard Griffiths for an early job in a career which has subsequently involved major conservation work in London and elsewhere. Paint layers were carefully scraped to try and find evidence of the original decorative scheme, but Waterhouse appeared to have stripped it all very thoroughly, so the committee considered alternative schemes from the early eighteenth-century – the heyday of English Baroque. The one we chose was based on that used in a room at Windsor Castle.

I was aware that it would be difficult to explain such radical proposals to the

Left to right: mock-ups of the panelling with a door case and a pilaster capital

Society by means of two-dimensional illustrations or simple colour panels and so we had two mock-ups constructed, one of the panelling with a door case and one of the pilaster capitals (somewhat simplified) and entablature at the High Table east end. A husband-and-wife team, who were going to undertake the decoration, painted and gilded the sample panels: the gilding was placed in the grooves of the pilasters to ensure a certain glitter from whichever angle the light falls. I displayed them at an evening meeting of the Society in Upper Hall, explaining the reasoning behind the Committee ’ s choice.

The reception was mixed. Some members of the Fellowship felt that the Hall had always been chocolate brown and ought to remain that way. Others, while agreeing with the general decorative scheme, objected to the theatricality of the false marbling in the frieze and the amount of gilding, saying it might feel like Disneyland. I said that Baroque taste was indeed theatrical but that its character suited a room where Fellows ritually wore gowns and recited a Latin grace. The scheme passed by a narrow margin and an attempt, orchestrated by a Fellow of the College to interest those who hadn ’t attended in vetoing it, also failed.

The Hall has been re-decorated in accordance with the colours we chose in 1994, before being handed back at the end of the current kitchen development contract. It is impossible to say whether the present scheme reflects its appearance in the early eighteenth century. If it was as ‘theatrical’ , it is very probable that later in that century, when the influence of Lord Burlington ’ s Palladian taste predominated, the decoration would have been toned down: we know it was “ new painted” in 1801. However, it seems that members of the College have become fond of the present scheme, and a

The redecorated Hall

proposal that changed the Hall’ s character might now meet with considerable resistance.

Along with the decoration work, improvements have been made to the heating and ventilation. The 1994 lighting scheme has been enhanced on several occasions and that has been reinstated and improved further. However, the most noticeable alteration to Hall is the removal of the High Table dais. Now that a dignified access for wheelchair users has been created, thanks to the new kitchen work, there is a compelling reason to allow everyone entitled to dine at what can remain as a High Table (simply by the re-orientation of the furniture) and proceed thence into the Combination Room. How precisely to achieve such a distinction, down to the orientation of the floor boarding, was debated by the Kitchen Development Working Party (a sub-committee of the Buildings Committee), and alternative proposals were presented for discussion by the Society, which recommended one of them to Council.

Decisions on how to proceed in the Hall thus mirror in miniature the many issues with which members of the College have been involved in the recent major kitchen works. The results at a larger scale, as I mentioned, will be the subject of a later more detailed report, which will not only summarise archaeological discoveries but also describe the way in which this contract furthers the College ’ s long-term ambition to be exemplary in how we re-use and re-interpret the precious fabric we have inherited in the light of the compelling need to be environmentally responsible. n