The Founder's Building is the original building of Royal Holloway College,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

(RHUL), in

Egham Egham ( ) is a town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna Carta was ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England. It is an example of French-Renaissance-style architecture in the United Kingdom, having been modelled on French chateaus such as Château de Chambord. Today it is the dominant building on the campus.

History

The construction of the building began in 1874, and was completed in 1881. The building and the college were a £600,000 "gift to the nation" by the

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Thomas Holloway. It was designed by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

William Henry Crossland, and inspired by the Château de Chambord in the

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The building was officially opened in 1886 by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, who allowed the use of "Royal" in the college's name by Royal mandate. A statue of Queen Victoria sits in the centre of the north quadrangle. The centre of the south quadrangle contains a statue of Thomas Holloway and his wife Jane. The marble statues were sculpted by

Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Admiral Prince Victor Ferdinand Franz Eugen Gustaf Adolf Constantin Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, (11 December 1833 – 31 December 1891), also known as Count von Gleichen, was an officer in the Royal Navy, and a sculptor. Biography He wa ...

(Count Gleichen). Founders Building chapel

The Founder's Building houses the Picture Gallery, containing a collection of over 70 pieces of

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

art given to the college at the time of its founding by Thomas Holloway. Founder's is home to one of the university's lecture theatres, the non-denominational chapel, and the reading room, which is open to students 24/7. The north tower is known as the Clock Tower, the south as the Dragon Tower (due to its dragon like gargoyles), and the centre tower as the Lantern Tower, housing a lantern which is very occasionally lit. Many of the college's main administrative offices remain within the Founder's Building. It is also a Hall of Residence for the campus, with rooms for over 550 students. A bar within the building is named "Crosslands" in honour of its architect. The original building plans as well as photographs at the time of completion are available for viewing in the Royal Holloway archives.

Filming location

The building has been featured in several films and television programmes including: * 1968 – '' Salt and Pepper'' * 1992 – ''

Howards End ''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book wa ...

'' * 2001 – ''

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'' * 2002 – ''

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'' – ''Murder on St. Malley's Day'' * 2006 – '' Basic Instinct 2'' * 2009 – ''

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

'' * 2012 – '' Celebrity MasterChef'' * 2013 – ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

'' * 2015 – '' Avengers: Age of Ultron'' * 2017 – ''Delirium'' * 2018 – '' The Split'' * 2019 – '' Jack Ryan'' * 2021 – ''

Call the Midwife ''Call the Midwife'' is a British period drama television series about a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The principal cast of the show has included Jessica Raine, Miranda Hart, ...

'' * 2023 – ''

You In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...

'' * 2024 – ''

Silent Witness ''Silent Witness'' is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC that focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. The series was created by Nigel McCrery, a former murder squa ...

– Grievance Culture''

References

External links

Royal Holloway, University of London, website
{{Royal Holloway, University of London School buildings completed in 1881 Grade I listed buildings in Surrey Grade I listed educational buildings Gothic Revival architecture in Surrey 1881 establishments in England William Henry Crossland buildings Halls of residence in the United Kingdom