“ It is not for a moment suggested that the modern growth of the place is ideal, but what is new and unsightly is so placed that it does not interfere with the old and beautiful. The real Cambridge is so effectively girdled with greens and commons, and college grounds shaded with stately limes, elms, and chestnuts, that there are never any jarring backgrounds to destroy the sense of aloofness from the ugly and untidy elements of nineteenth-century individualism which are so often conspicuous at Oxford. ”
Gordon Home
Summary
Gordon Home’s Cambridge is a thorough examination of the university city’s architectural and historical development, focusing on its colleges, chapels, and medieval edifices. Written with academic rigor, the work explores the relationship between ancient structures such as King’s College Chapel and later additions, while contrasting Cambridge’s seamless blending of old and new with Oxford’s more discordant modernity.
Through vivid depictions of halls, towers, and galleries, Home emphasizes the lasting influence of Tudor foundations and Perpendicular design, presenting a refined portrayal of a city where history and beauty remain deeply intertwined.
Quotes from Cambridge (Gordon Home)
“ If we enter the building to-day without any knowledge of its past, we merely note a spacious late Perpendicular nave, having galleries in the aisles with fine dark eighteenth-century panelled fronts, and more woodwork of this plain and solemn character in front of the organ, in the aisle chapels, and elsewhere. ”
“ More than half a century has passed since this great chapel replaced the Tudor building which had unluckily come to be regarded as inadequate, but the ponderous Early Decorated tower is scarcely less of an intrusion than when its masonry stood forth in all its garish whiteness against the time-worn brick of Lady Margaret Beaufort's court. ”
