Christ's College

Christ's sits on St Andrew's Street in the city centre and has two identities rolled into one. It began as God's House, set up in 1437 by William Byngham to train teachers for grammar schools. Its first site was given up in 1443 to King's College, and in 1505 a fresh charter and a large endowment from Lady Margaret Beaufort gave it the name it carries now. Its alumni include the poet John Milton and the naturalist Charles Darwin.

What to look for

• First Court. The lawn is round rather than square, which surprises first-time visitors. The Great Gate tower, the chapel and the Master's Lodge belong to the early 16th-century buildings, and a wisteria climbs the front of the Lodge. The hall was restored by George Gilbert Scott the younger between 1875 and 1879.
• The Fellows' Garden. Two mulberry trees grow here; the older was planted in 1608, the year Milton was born. Both have toppled sideways over the years but still crop each summer.
• New Court. Denys Lasdun's tiered concrete block of 1966-70 is Modernist, and has picked up a nickname, "the Typewriter". It makes a sharp contrast with the Tudor courts.
• The bathing pool. Fed by water from Hobson's Conduit, the college's private pool is thought to date from the mid-17th century.

Beyond First Court

The college grew outwards in stages. Second Court is built up on three sides only, one of them the Fellows' Building of the 1640s, put up as numbers rose in the seventeenth century; the open fourth side faces the garden attached to the Master's Lodge. Third Court came later. The Stevenson Building, by J. J. Stevenson, dates from the 1880s and was lengthened in 1905 for the college's four-hundredth anniversary. Albert Richardson then designed a new cupola for it in 1947, along with two neo-Georgian companions on the same court: the Chancellor's Building, finished in 1950 and now called the Blyth Building, and the Memorial Building of 1953. A planting of irises, donated in 1946, flowers there in May and June.

From God's House to Christ's

The royal licence for God's House came in July 1439, followed by more licences in 1442 and 1446. The charter on which the college actually rests followed in 1448 and named Henry VI as founder; in the same year the community settled on its present site. Its first ground was not wasted: roughly three-quarters of the footprint of King's College Chapel lies on the land God's House gave up.

Practical notes

The college states that visitors may explore the grounds, 09:00-12:00 every day, and the Fellows' Garden on the same hours from Monday to Friday. Apart from the Chapel, no college buildings are open to visitors, and the college may close at short notice for functions. It shuts completely during the Quiet Period before and during exams, roughly early May to the end of June, and over the Christmas break. Visitors are also welcome at Choral Evensong in the chapel, on Thursdays at 6.45pm and Sundays at 6pm in term.