Entrance to Beit Quadrangle
As you enter the quad, take a moment to look at the Imperial College coat of arms tucked into the pediment high up above the entrance.And below that, immediately above the entrance, look at the keystone to the archway. It is the head of Athena, greek goddess of wisdom with her owl headress. The squirrel, patiently and dilligently cracking the tough shells of nuts to access the delights within, is a metaphor for the dutiful, hard working student struggling with intractable lectures and problem sheets in order to access the nuggests of wisdom within.
In front of the Union Building
As you look towards the main entrance of the Union Building, look at the 'Baker' clock and, to the right and left of it, the decorative 'diapering' a remnant from the Union building's past when, as a two storey building, it had many neo-Tudor features. Above it, you'll see yet another Imperial College Coat of Arms.Don't use the main entrance. take a short cut diametrically off to the right and take the entrance nearest to the Bar......
Entrance to the Bar
Don't dilly-dally here. Just cast a glance at the sign above the door and take a quick look at the door itself as you pass through. The first framed print we'll look at is on your left as you face the Bar.....
Plans of Union Building
Plans of Union BuildingThis photograph hangs to left of alcove and is entitled “Sketch for Proposed Students Union in connection with the Imperial College of Science”. Handwritten annotation says “Students’ Union. Plan and elevation of the Students’ Union Building now being erected in Prince Consort Road by The Governors of the Imperial College at an estimated cost of £15,000. The building is expected to be ready for occupation at the beginning of Session 1911-12 and will be for the use of members of the Unions of the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines and the City and Guilds College”.These plans are the personal work of the architect Aston Webb. The line drawing at the top is signed and dated “Aston Webb RA”. The ground floor and first floor plans are similarly signed “Aston Webb RA, 19 Queen Anne's Gate”.Notice how, with only two floors, and with the line of the roof and chimneys being visible, the “Tudor style” is much more apparent.The area indicated for “LADIES LAV.Y.” was too large for the numbers of females and was touted to become the office of the first Secretary of the Union. But in the event, this small, windowless basement room became the first Union Bar, the predecessor to the Bar you are standing in.Lets go round the alcove in clockwize direction until we reach the next wall hanging........
Botany: Under construction 1912-1914
Botany: Under construction 1912-1914This photograph hangs on the left wall of the alcove and shows the nearly completed Botany Building with views of the Memorial to the Great Exhibition and views of the Royal College of Music. This part of the Quadrangle was also designed by Sir Aston Webb (as indeed were all four sides) and Webb adopted a similar style to the Union Building except that, in order to be hospitable to plants, 'the maximum of glass has been given to all rooms'. It was built between 1912 and 1914 by Dove Brothers.The clear view of the Royal College of Music is only available because the South side of the quadrangle has yet to be built. This South side, the Beit Building, was the last side of the Quad to be built and wasn’t constructed until 1930–1931.The clearing to the north of the Botany building affords a view through to the Memorial to the Great Exhibition of 1851. This view lasted until 1957 when the Union Building was extended upwards by two storeys and extended outwards by the addition of the link to the Botany Building.The memorial holds a special place in the hearts of many IC alumni being the location of choice for group photographs - particularly for groups gathering before formal dinners and for groups celebrating their degree ceremonies on Commemoration Day.As fondly as we regard this monument, we do take it rather for granted. And most of the world dismiss it as the insignificant echo of the much larger and grander Albert Memorial on the opposite side of the Albert Hall. But it really is rather fine. It was designed by Joseph Durham, and is made of red Aberdeen and grey Cornish granite with electrotyped bronze female figures representing Europe, America, Asia and Africa, one on each corner. As was typical allegorical representation for the time, Europe is prim and proper and wears diaphanous clothing revealing pert nipples , America wields an axe for the settlers and a bow for the natives, Asia wears an exotic headdress and holds a banana leaf, and Africa is largely naked with dreadlocks and muscles that our rugby 1st XV would be proud of.The monument had a very difficult birth. The original concept was to have a statue of Albert, but he was a humble man and dragged his feet. Eventually the idea of Britannia Presiding Over the Four Quarters of the Globe was proposed and immediately the whole monument made sense. But it continued plodding slowly forward, tortuously designed by committee. Ten years after the exhibition the foundations began to be dug and the decision was made for the statue of Britannia to be switched for one of Queen Victoria. But then Albert died in December and things really got motoring. Queen Victoria decided to revert to a statue of Albert, his boy (who was to become Edward VII) paid for the statue, modern, trendy and less expensive electrotyped bronze was used. Eventually the monument was finished and unveiled in June 1863 when it was in the midst of the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society. It would have been located South of its current location, smack bang where the Prince Consort Road now runs. It was moved in about 1891 when Prince Consort Road was built, would you believe it, from wood! The surface would have rather resembled granite cobblestones, where the ‘stones’ were blocks of wood, held together with pitch. (In this period, indoor parquet floors would also have been held together with hot bitumen).Let's move round the alcove and view the next framed photograph......
Beit:1930s tennis courts and a fine growth of ivy on the Union frontage
Beit:1930s tennis courts and a fine growth of ivy on the Union frontageThis photograph hangs on the back wall of the alcove and shows a very thickly ivy-clad Union Building with only two storeys, as it was prior to the additional storeys being added in 1957. Despite suggestions that this photo might be taken in the 1920s, a bit of detective work reveals otherwise. The photo is taken from a vantage point high up on the south building of the Beit quadrangle which wasn’t in place until 1931. We also note that the clock is in place, high up in the gable. This clock was a retirement present from Professor H Brereton Baker on his retirement in 1932 so this photograph must be taken after that date. The density of the ivy on the building ebbs and flows during this period. Photos from the late 20’s show it reaching the bottom of the first-floor windows and being neatly trimmed to that height. The growth seems to reach its zenith around 1937 when, as in this photograph, some of the first-floor windows were entirely covered, suggesting that this photograph will have been taken around that time. Photos early in the 1940s show the ivy completely removed.The quad was still set out with tennis courts, and the protective chain-link fencing. Large crowds would assemble outside the fence, looking inwards to watch the sporting contests within. Not only tennis, but even more so netball matches, despite the lack of appropriate netball court markings, were fiercely contested and drew large crowds. Nothing whatever, I’m assured, to do with the sex and the scant clothing of the contestants.This arrangement of courts remained until 1955 when the contractors moved in to extend the Union Building whereupon the quad became an enormous building site.Let's look to the right further alonf the back wall for the next hanging in the alcove..........
Long view of the newly built Beit Building frontage 1931
Long view of the newly built Beit Building frontage 1931This photograph hangs on the right had wall of the alcove and shows Prince Consort Road with only three parked cars This final piece of the quadrangle was completed after the death of Sir Aston Webb in 1929, by his son, Maurice Webb. One unkind commentator said of the building “it is in the terrible style of the reactionaries of the 1920s, that is, plain brick, with occasional outbursts of pilasters and columns and pediments.”A bit cruel don’t you think? Particularly as the design is a miniaturised rip-off of his father’s design for the façade of Buckingham Palace, and these commentators wouldn’t dream of criticising Buck House.That;s the photos in the alcove all looked at. It leaves us at the bat and tirsty. Let's order a drink before we move on to the final photograph. It is axross thde other side of the Bar between the small door and the darts board........
Students Gathering on Sir Roderic Hill Memorial Wall
Students Gathering on Sir Roderic Hill Memorial WallThis photograph also hangs on the back wall of the alcove and reminds us of something that is widely forgotten: that after adding two floors to the Union Building, the Beit Quadrangle was laid out as a semi-formal garden, with grass lawns and York stone paths and Portland stone walls, as a monument to the recently deceased Sir Roderic Hill, and named the Sir Roderic Hill Memorial Gardens.But the building on the other side of Prince Consort Road housing the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, the Roderic Hill Building, is also named for our seventh Rector. As a monument to him, who had after all spent 32 years in the RAF and studied architecture as a student, the dedicating of an entire building and so appropriate a building has unsurprisingly eclipsed a wall and some grass as a memorial.This photograph shows students relaxing at lunchtime in 1960.Half the wall, the part in the western half of the Quad, was removed in 200? to allow an increased area of terracing with more outdoor tables. The octagonal stone slab that was inset plumb in the centre of the quadrangle and bore the inscription “THIS GARDEN COMMEMORATES SIR RODERIC HILL KCB MC AFC MA LLD / RECTOR / IMPERIAL COLLEGE / 1948 – 1954” .was removed around the same time.Let's move round to the final wall of the alcove......
Front of Union Building in the mid-70s
Front of Union Building in the mid-70sHere we are at the final photograph, hanging next to the dart board. The scene predates the major works that were carried out over the summer and (unintentionally) into the autumn term of 1979. Although the Quad looks splendid in this photograph, problems were lurking a few inches below the turf. Large areas of the original tennis hardcourt remain causing waterlogging in the wetter months. Remedies were to remove lots of the hardcourt, drive drainage holes through the remaining bits of tennis hardcourt and to make major breaches in the vicinity of trees allowing the roots to grow through. The paths were sunk and the lawn areas were raised behind retaining walls.The centre path opens up to a small paved projection which is the ‘landing’ from which rise steps up to the level of the building’s entrance. Later in the decade the entrance-level paving was extended. increasing the width of paved area. Later still came the raising of sunken lawn, removal of wall and installation of outdoor seating.Notice that this photo is taken prior to the ceiling to floor doors being installed in the Union Building.
Trophy Cabinet - RCS Three Handled Pot
Sadly, not the original which was stolen. The 3HP as its name is customarily abbreviated, was never recovered from the RCSA’s ‘Goodbye to RCS’ Annual Dinner which mourned the Royal College of Science being split into faculties of Life Sciences and of Physical Sciences in 2002. There is still a reward offered for its safe return! along with its base which was also stolen.The original was described thus: “The Pot is made of Pewter and has a Glass Bottom. It has Three Handles, each approximately equidistant around its circumference, and can hold roughly 3 pints of beer. Its main distinguishing features are a large engraving of the RCS Crown, as well as the names of all Executive Committees from the Mid 60's up until the Late 70's/Early 80's”. The conical wooden base with shield-shaped plaques for each exec was donated by Chris (now Lord) Fox, Martin Watson and Jon Hall in 1979. The current incarnation of the 3HP in the trophy cabinet is a pretty good replica of the original, perhaps a little narrower and a little taller than it used to be. It is dubbed the RCSA Centenary Three-Handled Pot and was donated by the RCSA on the occasion of their 100th anniversary on 9th Dec 2008. The 3HP is no longer engraved with the names of the RCSU executive.When the 3HP was made in March 1966 it was, most unusually, presented to Stan Kearns of Southside Bar for safekeeping. But that arrangement wasn’t to last. The 3HP soon made its way over to this Bar where it joined the rest of the RCS pewterware.By 2008, College had seen the error of their ways and had re-combined the two faculties into the unromantically named Faculty of Natural Sciences (FoNS). The recombined ‘Faculty Student’s Union’ was, after a popular vote, given the name ‘Royal College of Science Union’ once more.
The College shields - Royal School of Mines
All across the world, the hammer and pick motif is associated with mining. It is widely seen in the Bar and not just in the RSM logo; it also features in the logos of several other mining institutions which are on display in various places around the Bar.Here, on the RSM shield, it is in relief on a black engrailed shield with the coronet above and the initials RSM, all in gold.To understand the motif, you must appreciate that the two tools are laid down in the form of a St. Andrew's Cross, arranged as a left-handed miner would leave them before and after work. The miner would firstly place down the pick that is held in his weaker right hand (with the handle to the right and the tip to the left) and would then lay the much heavier mallet/sledge hammer, which was held in the more powerful left hand, on top.But most of the population of miners are right handed, so most frequently you will see a reversed version. If we wander across to the bar you can see an illustration of the hammer and pick being correctly held and correctly used by a right-handed miner. It is on the Agricola Stein. Let's take a look at it now...........
The RSM Agricola Stein
Monochrome ‘Agricola’ SteinThis porcelain stein comes from Hungary as is clear from the makers mark on the underside where it is marked “ALFÖLDI PORCELAN HUNGARY”.The inscription “Jo szerencset!”, meaning “good luck!” is the traditional greeting of Hungarian miners. Just below it is a pick and hammer motif combined with the “oil lamp of knowledge and learning”. The lamp isn't just to illuminate the mine, it confirms that we are dealing with a tankard from a Hungarian mining school.Around the top of the stein are the names of three cities “Selmec”, “Sopron” and “Mislolc”, which tells us we are dealing with the oldest mining school of them all, Nehezipari Muszaki Egyetem (NME) which translates as “Technical University for Heavy Industries”, founded in 1735.The most prominent adornment of this tankard is, of course the black and white frieze. It is a 14th Century woodcut and the style is familiar to miners the world over as a woodcut from the book “De Re Metallica” (On the Nature of Metals, or Minerals) by Gregorius Agricola.He was born Georg Bauer, but is better known under the Latin version of his name. Both the surnames “Bauer” ,and “Agricola” mean “farmer”, in German and Latin respectively, and he was born in 1494 and died in 1555.The tankard illustrates Agricola’s description of the ‘old’ method of ventilating a tunnel by the “constant shaking of linen cloths”. It helpfully shows a right-handed miner correctly using a pick and hammer whereby the pick is held in his left hand and the mallet/sledge hammer delivering the powerful blows and is held in the right hand.Whilst you are here at the bar, you may wish to fill your glass. When you are ready, let's get back to the chimney breast and the College shields.......
The College shields - School of Medicine
For many years the Imperial College shield was just surrounded by the shields of the three original Constituent Colleges, RCS, RSM and C&G.After the acquisition of a medical school in 1988 a fourth shield, featuring the fleur-de-lys of Saint Mary’s, was added. The fleur-de-lys, or ‘flower of the lily’, has long been used as a symbol of purity because of the lily’s whiter than white colour. Also, the three "petals" of the fleur-de-lys were used to represent the Holy Trinity. So an association with the Virgin Mary developed and it is for this reason that the Fleur-de-lys substituted earlier crest for St Mary’s which featured a full-length Many and child. This early version is very rarely seen but fortunately, we have one it on display in the form of a plaque behind the bar.When transformed into the Imperial College School of Medicine in 1997, the fourth shield was replaced. The replacement ICSM shield features the fleur-de-lys of Mary's Hospital and the Maltese Cross of Charing Cross held in the claws of a phoenix wearing a crown. The crown representing the Royal Postgraduate Medical School. The phoenix has long been associated with Imperial College, but here symbolises the resurgence of the combination of colleges arising out of the ashes of the original institutions. Westminster Hospital Medical School (which had already merged with Charing Cross), and the National Heart and Lung Institute are components of ICSM that are not represented in the crest.Let's pop over to the bar and look at the early Saint Mary's plaque..........
Plaque behind the bar - Saint Mary's
High up on the right hand side of the bar you see the the blue figure of the Virgin Mary together with and the infant Jesus. The Latin inscription surrounding the figure of Mary is “VIRGINIS MARIAE NOSOCOMIUM BEATAE” which pretty much translates as “Hospital of the Blessed Virgin Mary”. The text on the ribbon below says “St. MARY’S HOSPITAL - PADDINGTON”.The plaque dates from well before the merger, a time when St Mary’s and Imperial were fierce sporting rivals. The Virgin Mary crest is widely superceded by the more graphical fleur-de-lys.
