South West

University of Exeter walking tour – change of date

It has been decided to change the date for our first event, a walking tour of Exeter University Campus. It was to be 5 September, but the University has advised that weekend is the busiest of the year, with an expected 18,000 prospective students on site for an open day. Not good if we are trying to park/get around/view buildings inside and out!

We propose to move the event to Sunday 4 October.

I hope this suits everybody who has expressed and interest so far and also those who couldn’t come on 5 September.

Architect Paul Humphries and I have now done a tour of the site and defined the schedule and on closer inspection there are some fantastic C20 buildings to see.

Here is what we propose:

Meet 10.30 at the Forum Building (Wilkinson Eyre, 2012), at the entrance to the Great Hall (Sir William Holford and Partners, 1960). After looking at both of these, proceed to the Physics and Chemistry Buildings (Sir Basil Spence 1963-7), which we will tour inside and then the Laver Building (Louis de Soissons Partnership 1966-67) and Harrison Building (Playne Vance Partnership, 1968) both of which we will tour inside.

After a lunch break and a look at the New Library (John Crowther, 1981-3) we’ll walk down to the Hatherley Laboratories (E. Vincent Harris, 1948-52) and the Old Library (Sir William Holford and Partners, 1966) and inside the fascinating Bill Douglas Cinema Museum (www.bdcmuseum.org.uk).

After that we will look at the Harris Memorial Chapel (E. Vincent Harris, 1956) and the ethereal ceiling abstract by Tom Monnington. Then a look at the Queen’s building and Northcott House(Holford again, 1956-60) and the nearby Barbara Hepworth sculpture.

I’m sorry to have to change this date but I hope it suits everybody and I look forward to your response.

My contact email for this free event is: tonystokoe@me.com and please check our Facebook page for further details.

Tony Stokoe