To spot the Senate House, look straight ahead for a striking, long white stone building with tall columns and grand steps at the front-it almost looks like a Roman temple suddenly appeared in the middle of Cambridge!
Now, take a moment to imagine yourself in the 1720s, because that’s where the story of the Senate House begins. Here you are, right in the heart of Cambridge, squeezed between the famous King’s College and Gonville and Caius. This magnificent neo-classical building, with its elegant Portland stone walls and stately columns, was designed by James Gibbs-well, technically, Sir James Burrough had a good go first, but as with many things in Cambridge, it took a committee and a few years to agree on the final look! Just picture the city buzzing with excitement as Thomas Crosse, the vice-chancellor back then, carefully lays the first stone on a June morning in 1722. The air is thick with anticipation, and a few construction mishaps-after all, the western end wasn’t even finished until 1768!
The Senate House was meant to be just one side of a grand quadrangle, but, well, the dreams of Cambridge planners are nearly as long as their university traditions-meaning the rest was never built. Still, this building is so important it’s protected as Grade I listed, part of what’s called the “Old Schools Site.”
Come graduation season, excitement fills the air and nervous students with fluttering black gowns gather on those wide stone steps. Graduation here is an old ritual, full of tradition and a sprinkle of Latin. Can you picture the scene? The colleges process to the Senate House, one after another, in strict order-except if you’re a royal college, then you get to jump the queue! As the students line up inside, the Praelector-imagine him like a medieval master of ceremonies-grasps each graduand’s hand and proudly pronounces a string of Latin: “Dignissima domina, Domina Procancellaria et tota Academia praesento vobis hunc virum…” (And yes, I’d practice my Latin just for this moment!) Then, each new graduate kneels before the vice-chancellor, who clasps their hands and utters, with all due seriousness, “Auctoritate mihi commissa admitto te ad gradum…” I must admit, the whole thing is a bit like Hogwarts with more tradition and less wand-waving. When it’s done, they spring up, bow, and hurry out through the Doctor’s Door-degree certificate between their fingers, and a world of possibility ahead.
But wait-there’s more! Each formal graduation, known as a Congregation, is an act of the university’s real governing body, the Regent House. Yes, each and every student’s degree is voted on, a bit like Parliament but with less shouting and, hopefully, no one falling asleep.
And here’s where the fun kicks in: if you want to feel the tension of exam season, visit in late spring. The outer walls get plastered with class-lists. But if you want a real spectacle, come for the reading of the Mathematical Tripos results. Imagine the balcony above your head, voices echoing as names are read out-then, suddenly, huge piles of paper results rain down in a blizzard, fluttering like confetti onto the waiting students below. It’s joy, sorrow, and hope all mixed together in one grand academic tornado.
But the Senate House has also been the target of student mischief! Back in 1958, awestruck townsfolk woke up to find an old Austin Seven van-yes, a literal car-perched on the roof. Engineering students from Caius had hauled it up during the night, using scaffolding “borrowed” from King’s College. No one heard a thing, but you can bet the university made plenty of grumpy noises when it took them a week to get the van down! In 2022, a bold team somehow managed to put a fully-decorated Christmas tree up there. What’s next-reindeer? Watch this space.
Not just for tradition and pranks, the Senate House even hosted the BBC’s major Election Debate in 2017. Imagine the famous voices echoing beneath these high ceilings, the tension of politics mixing with thousands of stories that have unfolded here through centuries.
So as you stand here, take a deep breath and imagine the echoes-the pride of new graduates, the laughter of students plotting their next rooftop adventure, and the busy whispers of nearly 300 years of history surrounding this temple to knowledge. If these old stones could speak, they’d tell you they’ve seen it all-ceremony, mischief, debate, and all the best secrets of Cambridge life.
