NEW CROSBY HALL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—The materials of Crosby Hall, stored by the courtesy of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China for re-erection upon some appropriate site, have been accepted by the London County Council in consequence of their approval of the project submitted by us for the renewal and utilisation of the fabric. This, when re-erected here upon the garden of the most illustrious of its former owners—Sir Thomas More— will be transferred by us, along with the site, in perpetuity to the London County Council, subject to a five hundred years' lease to this the first collegiate Hall of Residence officially recognised by the University of London, access for the public being at the same time provided for. This re-erection is not merely a matter of archaeological piety, nor by any means of the dubious antique. It is the utilisation of a treasure otherwise lost, and a renascence of its beauty, in conditions historically appropriate, architecturally harmonious, and educationally useful. The scheme thus appeals not only to academic sympathies, but to civic and public interests. It must attract not only those who seek for the student in whom they are immediately interested the advantages of the great city whilst guarding against its dangers, but all who recognise that this Metropolitan and Imperial University, now in so many ways entering upon unprecedented developments, should not con- tinue to lack that collegiate life which has been so valuable
and so characteristic an element of the older English Universities. We appeal even to those interested in education on its simpler levels, since every improvement of University conditions speedily reacts upon all others, yet with special confidence to those for whom the progress of London and its constituent boroughs, or even the strengthening of the ties of the Empire and of civilisation, is paramount. London, with its almost unparalleled resources, offers peculiar facilities for the post-graduate student from all other Universities. The sixty teaching institutions now linked together by the teaching University of London are spread over so wide an area that not a few boroughs are becoming University towns, even on a scale not inferior to those of America and the Continent, yet almost without recognising it. Among these Chelsea, from its situation and its associations, from More and Erasmus to Carlyle, is peculiarly suitable as the centre of a further development, that of a collegiate city. Our site admits of the erection of a residential College to accommodate about one hundred students and graduates ; and its completion and equipment will involve a total outlay estimated at about £100,000. A sum of £5,000 has been received towards the re-erection of Crosby Hall, with a similar amount for general purposes ; and smaller donations from £1,000 downwards have also been acknowledged. Thus a substantial nucleus of nearly £12,000 is already in hand. For the completion of Crosby Hall itself, with the adjacent library, &c., and for the first block of residential buildings, with their furnishing, equipment, &c., an additional sum of E30,000 is required, while the remainder will also be proceeded with as funds allow. Donations may be forwarded to the secretary (John Ross, C.A., 2 More's Garden, Cheyne Walk, S.W.), to the bankers (Messrs. Roberts, Lubbock, and Co., 15 Lombard Street, E.C.), or to any of the undersigned. Full printed particulars will also be forwarded on application.— We are, Sir, &c.,
NOEL P. W. BRADY. T. W. HELLYER. VICTOR V. BRANFORD. GEORGE MONTAGU.
PATRICK GEODES. J. MARTIN WRITE. University Hall, Chelsea, S.W.
Previous page
