Bredon House viewed in late summer

Bredon House

Bredon House viewed in late summer

The Original Building

When the College was founded by the University in 1965, it had a single building, Bredon House, along with extensive gardens running from Selwyn Gardens to Barton Road. The University provided financial support for ten years, during which the College raised the funds to secure its future and develop the site. At its inception, the College was home to six students; today it is changing the lives of almost 800 postgraduates, mature undergraduates and part-time students. Bredon House has been at the heart of the College since its earliest days, and remains central to the College as it is today, and to its future.

Bredon House was built in 1914 for John Stanley Gardiner (1872-1946), Professor of Zoology, and Edith Gertrude Gardiner (nee Willcock, 1879-1953), a biochemist, who lived there with their two daughters, Nancy (1911-c.1955) and Joyce (1913-1994). It remained their family home until after the Second World War, eventually passing to the University of Cambridge.

This gallery charts the transformation of Bredon House from family home to the heart of Wolfson College, through images from the College Archives.