Silver Street Flats awarded listed building status

St Catharine’s is pleased to confirm that the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has decided to add our property at 1 Silver Street and 71–72 Trumpington Street in central Cambridge to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.

1 Silver Street and 71–72 Trumpington Street are now listed at Grade II, following careful assessment by Historic England. They were designed and built between 1868 and 1869 by W M Fawcett as his own home with a tailors' shop on the corner of Silver and Trumpington Streets. The residential areas will be better known to the St Catharine’s community as “the Silver Street flats”, and are currently home to seven members of the College. The shop continues to be used for tailoring by our tenant Ede & Ravenscroft.

Fawcett was a significant architect with a prolific career in Cambridge. He was County Architect from 1861 and Ely's Diocesan Surveyor from 1871. He served as Vice-President of the Royal Institute of British Architects between 1896 and 1900. Amongst Fawcett's many commissions in Cambridge are the Old Cavendish Laboratories, the Real Tennis Club and the Master's Lodge at St Catharine’s (all already Grade II listed).

Helen Hayward (2018), Fellow and Operations Director at St Catharine’s, commented:

“It is a moment of pride for the College that we can add another of our buildings to England’s List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. A number of our properties already benefitted from listed building status, and we take very seriously our obligations to preserve our buildings and spaces so that future generations can continue to enjoy this special educational setting.”

Listed building status at St Catharine’s before 2022

Historic England explained in the letter confirming this decision:

“Listing helps us to mark a building’s significance and celebrate its special architectural and historic interest. It brings specific protection so that its special interest can be properly considered in managing its future. Listing does not mean, however, that no alterations can be made – in fact in the vast majority of cases applications to make changes to a listed building are approved.”

St Catharine’s has supported the assessment process for this latest listing, including welcoming the Designation Adviser from Historic England for a visit at the start of the year and providing input to their initial report. The College recently met with the local Conservation Officer ahead of applying for listed building consent for renovations to accommodation that was already planned for this summer as part of the Sherlock Court refurbishment project.