Goodenough College

Goodenough College is a postgraduate residence and educational trust on Mecklenburgh Square in Bloomsbury, central London, England. Other names under which the College has been known are London House, William Goodenough House, and the London Goodenough Trust.

Profile

The College is an international residential centre for postgraduates, both academic and professional, studying or training in London. Currently the community consists of around 650 students and senior scholars from over ninety different countries, many with partners and families.

The current Director of the College is Major General Andrew Ritchie CBE, formerly Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS). The College has a tradition of recruiting many of its senior staff from the army; this has lent a distinctly conservative feel to the College.

Since its foundation, the mission of the college has been to be an exceptional residence in London for outstanding postgraduate students by offering a unique experience through stimulating intellectual debate, fostering cross-cultural activity and providing an exceptional social environment.

Goodenough has residential and study facilities and an extensive extra-curricular programme, which includes a conference series aimed at examining subjects of international concern. Its membership includes Visiting Fellows, who act as advisors to these conferences, and Goodenough Fellows, who have a more informal role as advisors and mentors to Members.It is the first choice residence for scholars from a wide range of international schemes including Chevening, Fulbright, Commonwealth, Marshall, and Beit precisely because of the unique intellectual and cultural milieu characteristic of the college.

Selection is based not only on the academic prowess of applicants, but also on their ability and enthusiasm to contribute to the life of this unique college and, later, to their home countries. The College expects all those it selects to have the potential to rise to the heights of their chosen careers and, as a result, boasts an international body of alumni of considerable achievement and influence.

Benefiting from an endowment as well as a premier location in the heart of London and set on a private park that only members of the Mecklenburgh Square have access to, Goodenough College is considered the premier institution in London for postgraduate students. Acceptance into the college is through competitive essay-writing and there are strict criteria to ensure representation of both countries and academic institutions. The college has graduated prominent heads of state, accomplished artists, and successful professionals in all walks of life. The impressive community of students is arguably the most important element the college has to offer.

History

The Foundation, 1930

The College was incorporated in 1930, by a group of prominent Londoners, including the Chairman of Barclays Bank and founder of Barclays DCO, Frederick Craufurd Goodenough. Goodenough and his friends wanted to provide able young men coming to London from the Dominions and Colonies, future leaders of what was then a large Empire, with a collegiate life along Oxbridge lines in London. The College was a moot hall and at the same time a place where they would form lasting friendships in tolerance and understanding.

The search for a site for the new college was centred on Bloomsbury, to which the University of London was preparing a move from South Kensington. An ideal island site for sale freehold was found between Guilford Street and Mecklenburgh Square, and the College bought it in 1930.

The London House, 1931

Plans were to design and build a new College, but this would take time which the Governors did not want to waste. In the traditional manner of Bloomsbury’s philanthropic institutions, they made a start in a small way in some of the roomy old houses on the site. London House first opened its doors in October 1931, in Nos. 4–7 Caroline Place (now Mecklenburgh Place) on the west side of the site. The House was soon full, with a long waiting list, and by the start of World War II occupied all the Caroline Place houses.

The new London House for 300 single students was built between 1935 and 1963 to the designs of the architect Sir Herbert Baker, his partner Alexander T. Scott, and their successor Vernon Helbing. It was completed in three stages:

Stage 1 (1935-37). The south-east corner including the Great Hall, Charles Parsons Library, common-rooms and the Guilford Street entrance. This was the only part to be completed in Sir Herbert Baker’s lifetime.

Stage 2 (1948-53). The rest of the south wing, the west wing and the north-west corner. Alexander Scott continued in Baker’s style, with some simplification of detail.

Stage 3 (1961-63). The north wing, including the north-east corner. An economy version, for example no flintwork. At the same time, architect Vernon Helbing created the College Chapel out of former offices.

William Goodenough House

In the 1940s, at the instigation of the Chairman of the College Governors, Sir William Goodenough, the Lord Mayor of London launched a Thanksgiving Fund, to raise money in the U.K. and do something to thank the people of the Commonwealth and the United States for their generous gifts, especially of food parcels, during and after World War II. The money raised was used to build William Goodenough House for women and married students from those countries, replacing houses destroyed or badly damaged in the war on the north east of the Square. At the same time the bombed houses in adjacent Heathcote Street were rebuilt as an annexe, and the House was completed in 1957. Later wings, Julian Crossley Court (1974) and Ashley Ponsonby Court (1991) brought the capacity of the House up to 120 rooms for single students and 60 flats for married couples and families. The two houses, London House and William Goodenough House became mixed in 1991.

The Goodenough Club

Nos. 22–25 Mecklenburgh Square survived the war and were used as a nurses’ home until 1989, when they were handed back in a very dilapidated state. At first, the houses were repaired and used as inexpensive accommodation for short-stay visitors, mostly returning alumni and other academics in London to attend conferences and seminars. By 1997 however it was clear that something drastic had to be done if they were to meet the standards that would be required in the twenty-first century.

The houses were closed, and plans made to add No. 21 and renovate and upgrade at a cost of £3.5 million. There were delays because the Georgian houses are listed buildings in a conservation area, and the work required the approval of both English Heritage (which flatly refused any suggestion of a lift) and the London Borough of Camden planning department. Eventually the plans were passed, and the Goodenough Club opened its doors in April 2001. The club is open to academic and professional visitors as well as conference delegates from around the world.

Notable alumni

Many politicians, writers and artists, especially from the British Empire and British Commonwealth, have been residents of Goodenough College since its foundation in 1930.Some notable alumni include:

Giorgi Kandelaki - Georgian MP

External links

* [http://www.goodenough.ac.uk/ Goodenough College website]