St John's College Old Library, Cambridge
Encyclopedia
The Old Library of St John's College, Cambridge
connects to Third Court, and was built between 1623 and 1628, largely through the donations and efforts of two members of the College, the Bishop of Exeter, Valentine Carey and John Williams
, Lord-Keeper and Bishop of Lincoln.
When the College first opened in 1516, its Library was situated in what was then the College's only court, First Court. It occupied the first floor to the south of the Great Gate. Just over 100 years later, the Master of St John's received notification from Bishop Carey that Bishop John Williams, while not wishing to 'be counted the builder or founder' of a new library, was prepared to be a 'contributor towardes it'.
The building's shell was completed in 1624, a date which appears on the south gable of the western oriel window. The building is constructed in the Jacobean Gothic style, and measures 110 feet by 30 feet wide. The tall two-light windows are a very early example of Gothic Revival, but the façade is Renaissance-inspired. The library contains 42 bookcases arranged at right angles to the north and south walls, and is the home of the College's double-manual harpsichord
.
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
connects to Third Court, and was built between 1623 and 1628, largely through the donations and efforts of two members of the College, the Bishop of Exeter, Valentine Carey and John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
, Lord-Keeper and Bishop of Lincoln.
When the College first opened in 1516, its Library was situated in what was then the College's only court, First Court. It occupied the first floor to the south of the Great Gate. Just over 100 years later, the Master of St John's received notification from Bishop Carey that Bishop John Williams, while not wishing to 'be counted the builder or founder' of a new library, was prepared to be a 'contributor towardes it'.
The building's shell was completed in 1624, a date which appears on the south gable of the western oriel window. The building is constructed in the Jacobean Gothic style, and measures 110 feet by 30 feet wide. The tall two-light windows are a very early example of Gothic Revival, but the façade is Renaissance-inspired. The library contains 42 bookcases arranged at right angles to the north and south walls, and is the home of the College's double-manual harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
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