Gothic Revival and Neo-Classical Cambridge: From Wren to Waterhouse

Cambridge's architecture tells the story of centuries of academic ambition, religious upheaval, and civic pride. On this walking tour, you'll trace the city's post-medieval built environment through its Gothic Revival churches, neoclassical colleges, and Victorian civic buildings. You'll also discover how scholars, aristocrats, and even a French ballet dancer shaped what you see today.

The tour starts outside the Senate House on King's Parade, a 1720s classical building by James Gibbs, the architect behind St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. From here, you'll walk past William Wilkins' whimsical Gothic Revival gatehouse at King's College, into the courtyard of Pembroke College – home to Christopher Wren's earliest completed building. You'll continue to the monumental Fitzwilliam Museum, whose marble-clad interior features caryatids copied from the Acropolis.

Continuing south, you'll hear the story of Hobson's Conduit, named after the man who gave English the phrase Hobson's Choice, before reaching the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs, Cambridge's tallest building, where Decorated Gothic Revival architecture creates a genuinely atmospheric interior. Looping back through the city centre, you'll pass Emmanuel College, where John Harvard studied before lending his name to America's most famous university, and Downing College's vast neoclassical quadrangle. The tour ends at the Guildhall on Market Square, where a close look at the brickwork reveals an unexpected architectural consequence of the Second World War.

On this 90-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Enter Peterhouse College's 1630s chapel, a rare example of Gothic Survival architecture with a stunning and rare stained glass window
• Explore the Fitzwilliam Museum's opulent entrance hall, with marbles sourced from Siena, Devon, Genoa, and Aberdeen
• Admire the Maitland Robinson Library at Downing College, a 1990s building so convincingly classical it fools most visitors
• Spot the radio telescope carved into the frieze of Downing's library – architect Quinlan Terry's subtle 20th-century signature
• Step inside the Judge Business School, where postmodern architect John Outram created a riot of colour and giant columns inside a Victorian hospital
• Visit the Lloyds Bank on Sidney Street, whose glazed terracotta banking hall is among Alfred Waterhouse's finest interiors

By the end of this tour, you'll have taken a closer look at Cambridge's architecture and will have left with a new perspective.