New Hall, Cambridge

Murray Edwards College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It was founded as "New Hall" in 1954, at a time when Cambridge had the lowest proportion of women undergraduates of any university in the United Kingdom, and when only two other colleges admitted women students. Unlike many other colleges, New Hall was founded without a benefactor and did not bear a benefactor's name. However, it was announced in June 2008 that New Hall would be renamed in memory of its first President, Dame Rosemary Murray, and alumna Ros Smith and her husband Steve Edwards who had... recently made a donation of £30 million to the College. New Hall was founded in 1954, housing sixteen students in Silver Street where Darwin College now stands. By 1962, thanks to the generosity of members of the Darwin family who gave their family home, "The Orchard", to the project, the College had a new site on Huntingdon Road, about a mile from the centre of Cambridge. The architects, Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, had been chosen and funds were being collected. Building began in 1964 and the new college was completed in 1965. It could house up to 300 students.
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