Tour the Residential College

Set on ten acres (four hectares) of manicured grounds, the residential College consists of seven accommodation buildings and three common rooms built around an informal quadrangle known as the Bulpadock, where until 1960 the College's dairy herd grazed. Other facilities, including the Dining Hall, Chapel, Library, Sharwood Room, squash court, tennis courts and administration buildings are used by all sections of the College. Situated on Royal Parade, Trinity College is build on land set apart in 1861 for colleges affiliated with the University of Melbourne.

Leeper
The oldest building at Trinity now houses the College Office, Warden's Office, the residential College administration, the Development office, a visiting scholar's apartment and three tutorial rooms. The foundation stone of what was then the Principal's Residence (later Warden's Lodge) was laid on 10 February 1870. The 'late Gothic' building by the Diocesan Architect Leonard Terry, in grey Tasmanian (Spring Bay) sandstone, is now named in honour of the first Warden, Dr Alexander Leeper, who lived there with his family, alongside the first residents. The building also housed the Chapel, Library and Dining Hall until new buildings for each were erected.
Bishops'
The Bishops' Building was completed in 1878 to a plan by the architect Frederick Wyatt. It was named after Bishop Charles Perry (first Bishop of Melbourne and a founder of the College) and Bishop James Moorehouse, Perry's successor and the instigator of Theological teaching at the College. Bishops' is built in a Gothic style, in brown brick, with decoration in cream, red and black brick and Waurn Ponds freestone. The tower now houses the rooms of the Senior Student, while the rest of the building contains 26 resident rooms, three tutor's flats, the Senior Common Room, the Cripps (Middle) Common Room and the offices of the Chaplain and Assistant Chaplain. The Bishops' corridor displays many photographs of sporting and cultural activities in the college over the past 130 years.
Clarke's
In 1881, the College adopted a new master plan by the country's leading architect, Edmund Blacket. The first new building under the plan was Clarke's, named in honour of Sir William Clarke and his brother Joseph, great benefactors of the College. It was constructed between 1883 and 1888, in a style (brown brick and stone) that somewhat matches its neighbour, Bishops'. At its opening, Sir William stated that no money he had ever spent returned him so much pleasure. Clarke's originally consisted of one tutor's flat, and 24 student bedrooms (on the north side) with shared studies across the corridor. In its present configuraton, there are 18 first-year rooms, five later-year rooms and two tutor's flats on each of the two floors. The Junior Common Room is found on the ground floor, with the Billiards Room above, and the Computer Room along the hall. The E R White Collection of contemporary art is housed in the ground-floor corridor, and a shady cloister runs along the length of the building, forming the north side of the planned quadrangle.
Junior Common Room (JCR)
The JCR on the ground floor of Clarke's is a place for the College community to gather for relaxed conversation, debating, meetings, parties or a drink at the College Bar after tutorials. It was enlarged in 1958 at the time of the opening of the Memorial Building (Jeopardy), and substantially refurbished in 2000. A trophy cabinet and honour boards for the Senior Student, members of the Trinity College Associated Clubs (TCAC) committee, and the College's Rhodes Scholars hang on the walls.
Sharwood Room
The quaint, free-standing building at the eastern end of the Clarke's building was originally constructed as the Chemistry and Biology Laboratory, and preceded any biology labs at the University proper. Following a gift of £1,000 from Sir William Clarke in 1885, architects Reed, Henderson and Smart designed this charming, pseudo-ecclesiastical room with high ceilings and large windows. The builidng was later used a music room, and since its renovation and naming after the fourth Warden in 1993 as the Sharwood Room, it has continued as a music room as well as being used for meetings and functions.
Kitchens
Originally built next to the kitchen in 1891 to house the Matron and servants' quarters, the building always know simply as 'Kitchens' now contains nine students rooms upstairs, and offices for the College Chef, Catering Manager, Conference Manager, Sumemr Schools and Communciations downstairs. The building was designed by Arthur and Cyril Blacket of the firm Blacket Bros, sons of the famous Colonial architect, Edmund Blacket, who had supervised completion of the Clarke's building and designed a master plan for the entire College of two unequal quadrangles, along the lines of colleges at Oxford and Cambridge.
Dining Hall
A temporary weatherboard dining hall was built between Leeper and Bishops' in 1880. In 1920, the architects Blackett & Foster submitted a grand master plan that involved demolishing most of the existing College buildings; by 1925 it was felt that enough money had been raised to begin work. The first project was a new dining hall, but tenders came in at over double expectations and Council decided instead to expand the existing hall using stone. This cost a fraction of the price of a new building; the tables and chairs still in use in the Hall were purchased from the money saved. The Hall was again enlarged in 1954, and a Senior Common Room added to its south-east corner (now the office of the Director of Advancement). A final renovation of the kitchens occurred in 1962. The Hall displays many fine portraits of the College Founders and famous alumni. Formal dinner is held in Hall on weeknights during term.
Behan
In 1933, work began on a three-storey accommodation wing to house 24 residents. The Behan building, designed by Kingsley Henderson and completed in 1935, was the first to provide each student with a two-room suite comprising a bedroom and a study; to that date, all studies had been shared between two students (although each always had a separate bedroom across the hall). This arrangement was changed throughout the College in the 1970s, when all rooms were converted to single bedrooms with desks. After an extension in 1963, Behan became home to 60 residents. About half of the rooms have fireplaces. The building is faced in Barrabook stone, and it has a Pyrmont slate roof. Internal woodwork is of Tasmanian Silky Oak, and there are wrought iron grilles and staircases.
Dorothy
During the inter-war years, several smaller buildings were erected: the Sumemrhouse (now the office of the Director of Music) and the 'Vatican' in 1925 (built, from surplus stone from Newman College and St Paul's Cathedral, to house the first resident Chaplain, hence its whimsical name), the Deanery in 1936, the squash courts in 1938 and the male domestics' quarters in 1937. With the disappearance of live-in staff, this last building was converted in 1980 to a residential building housing 13 students and a tutor. It is named after one of its previous inhabitants.
Memorial Building ("Jeopardy")
The College's War Memorial Appeal of 1947 was designed to raise money for a building to sit next to Behan and thus complete that part of the 1920 Blackett & Foster master plan. Cost again prevented this, and a new plan was drawn up in 1956. The new building, a starkly functional and minimalist work by McGlashan & Everist, was build not on Sydney Road, but next to Leeper, and was known as the Memorial Building. Warden Cowan, in one of his many pre-exam notices, reminded residents of the need to get down to serious study. Anyone engaging in extra-curricular activities, the Warden warned, would 'find their place in jeopardy'. When the new building opened, many students DID find a place in 'Jeopardy'! The building now houses 53 residents and three tutors. The names of the 26 members of the College who lost their lives on active service during World War Two are recorded on a plaque at the entrance.
Cowan
Mockbridge, Stahle & Mitchell designed the four-storey Cowan building that was erected between Behan and the Chapel in 1963. In some features, chiefly its rough-faced brick, Barrabook stone and slate roof, it ressembles Behan. Inside, it reflected the new room arrangement of the day, with some single and some shared studies. Originially configured to house 14 residents and one tutor on each floor, there are now 69 single rooms and four tutor's flats. Some of the smallest rooms will be doubled in size once the new Woodheap Building is completed in 2007.
Evan Burge Building and Leeper Library
The new College library and teaching building, by Bates Smart, was opened in 1996. It is named after the fifth Warden, Dr Burge. During the day, the tutorial rooms and the Buzzard lecture theatre are used for Trinity College Foundation Studies (TCFS) classes, while in the evenings, these rooms are devoted to College tutorials. The library houses the 66,500 volumes of the College's Leeper Library and the Mollison Library of Theological texts.
Gourlay ("Woodheap")
Construction of a new residential wing known as the Gourlay Building commenced in 2006. The building, by Peter Elliott, the College Architect, incorporates 22 student rooms, one tutor's flat and two apartments for visiting scholars. Built on the site of the old stockpile for firewood, the building was referred to as 'Woodheap' during design and construction, and was officially opened and named in honour of the late John Gourlay and his wife, Louise, in February 2008.