St John's College - St John's Street, Cambridge, UK - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

The St John's College website tells us:

St John's was founded in 1511. Its foundation charter, dated 9 April that year, was sealed by the executors of the foundress, Lady Margaret Beaufort mother of King Henry VII, who had died in 1509 . She had begun the process of transforming the ancient hospital of St John the Evangelist, Cambridge (founded c. 1200), into a college for students in the liberal arts and theology. From a small nucleus of fellows and scholars subsisting in First Court (1511-16) on the College's endowments the numbers grew by 1545 to one hundred and fifty-two. Subsequently the admission of more undergraduates paying for their own board and tuition created pressure on existing accommodation. This led eventually to the building of Second Court 1599-1601, the first major expansion of the College. Other landmarks were the endowment of a new Library building by John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln and Keeper of the Great Seal to Charles I, in 1624-8, strikingly enlarged and complemented by  a modern technically-enhanced extension in 1990-3; the bridging of the river and building of New Court 1826-31; the great chapel, designed by George Gilbert Scott, in 1863-9; and the provision of extensive undergraduate accommodation in the Cripps Building, straddling Bin Brook, in 1964-7.

Successive codes of statutes  for the government of the College made by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and executor of the Foundress,  between 1516 and 1530 were superseded by those given by the Crown in 1545 and 1580, until the nineteeth-century Royal Commissions ushered in a period of frequent reform and reorganization. The College is now governed by statutes made in 1926-7, under powers given to the Universities Commission in 1923, as amended by  the Governing Body of the College and approved by the Privy Council, and as recently modified by Order of the University Commissioners in 1995.

Over the centuries the pattern of studies and undergraduate life has changed with the times. Originally a seminary focused chiefly on the liberal arts, theology, and the biblical languages, St John's became a centre also for the training of  the mind in classics and mathematics, and in the twentieth century for the latest developments in the full range of the humanities, medicine, and the experimental sciences. Alumni have included the classicist Roger Ascham, the social reformer William Wilberforce, the poet William Wordsworth, the physicist Paul Dirac, and the athlete Christopher Brasher. It has embraced all social classes, from the splendidly-robed nobles and fellow-commoners of the eighteenth century, to the recipients of sizarships and scholarships designed since early times to make it possible for those of academic merit but modest means to benefit from a university education.  Since 1998 this aim has been encouraged by The Eagle project, based in the borough of Lambeth, to help pupils in state schools to aim for university.

Wikipedia has an article about St John's College that tells us:

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. (The full, formal name of the college is "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge".) The college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The aims of the college, as specified by its Statutes, are the promotion of education, religion, learning and research.

The college's alumni include the winners of nine Nobel Prizes, seven prime ministers and twelve archbishops of various countries, at least two princes, and three Saints.

St John's College is well known for its choir, for its members' participation in a wide variety of inter-collegiate sporting competitions, and for its annual May Ball.

In 2011 the college celebrated its quincentenary, an event marked by a visit of HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. HRH Prince William was affiliated with the college while undertaking a university-run course in 2014.

The college was founded on the site of the 13th century Hospital of St John in Cambridge at the suggestion of Saint John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and chaplain to Lady Margaret. However, Lady Margaret died without having mentioned the foundation of St John's in her will, and it was largely the work of Fisher that ensured that the college was founded. He had to obtain the approval of King Henry VIII of England, the Pope through the intermediary Polydore Vergil, and the Bishop of Ely to suppress the religious hospital and convert it to a college. The college received its charter on 9 April 1511. Further complications arose in obtaining money from the estate of Lady Margaret to pay for the foundation and it was not until 22 October 1512 that a codicil was obtained in the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In November 1512 the Court of Chancery allowed Lady Margaret's executors to pay for the foundation of the college from her estates. When Lady Margaret's executors took over they found most of the old Hospital buildings beyond repair, but repaired and incorporated the Chapel into the new college. A kitchen and hall were added, and an imposing gate tower was constructed for the College Treasury. The doors were to be closed each day at dusk, sealing the monastic community from the outside world.

Over the course of the following five hundred years, the college expanded westwards towards the River Cam, and now has eleven courts, the most of any Oxford or Cambridge College. The first three courts are arranged in enfilade.

St John's College first admitted women in October 1981, when K. M. Wheeler was admitted to the fellowship, along with nine female graduate students. The first women undergraduates arrived a year later.

In 2015 St John's created controversy with student drinking societies that "glorify rape" and require members to "stand up if you hate the poor" during meetings.

St John's College is Grade I listed with the entry at the Historic England website telling us:

ST JOHN'S COLLEGE. The Buildings surrounding the First, Second and Third Courts.

First Court East Range with Gatehouse 1511-16. Red brick with dressings in freestone and clunch. The Gatehouse is of 3 storeys, it was restored and partly reconstructed in 1934-5. Embattled parapet and angle turrets. Original windows. Oak doors of circa 1516. Much carved decoration. Moulded 4-canted arch. The Gatehall has a 2 bay fan-vault, the room above some re-set C16 and later linenfold panelling. The range North of the gate is of 2 storeys and attics and has some contemporary interior features. South of the gate is similar, but the Junior Combination Room has several features of interest. The Chapel 1863-9. By Sir Gilbert Scott. In the C13 Gothic style. Ancaster stone. Very tall Nave and tower. Apsed East end to St John's Street divorced from the East range of First Court, but joined by a wrought- iron screen (qv). Tower of 3 stages with an open arcaded belfry and pinnacles above. The interior has an antechaple, and the main chapel is of 5 bays with an apsidal end. There are a number of fittings and monuments from the old chapel, including some C15 and C16 brasses. Some C15 glass, the rest by Clayton and Bell, Hardman, and Wailes, all circa 1869. Brass eagle lectern 1840. Seated marble statue of James Wood by E H Baily RA 1843. Stalls of 1516 with carved misericordes. West Range 1511-16. Red brick with embattled parapets. The north part of the range was extended in 1863-5 by Sir Gilbert Scott. The brickwork was refaced in 1935. The Hall roof has an hexagonal louvre of 1703. The West and East fronts of the range are similar except that the C19 extension is not visible from the West. Internally the Hall is of eight bays (formerly five) with a fine hammer-beam roof. The Hall is lined to cill-level with linenfold panelling of 1528-9, extended in 1863. The five-bay screen is original, but much restored. The heraldic glass is of all centuries from C15-C19. The Butteries and Kitchen form the rest of the range, there are beams exposed, and some C18 panelling. South Range 1511-16, but raised one storey and refaced in ashlar by James Essex, 1772-6. Three storeys, band at first floor level, sash windows with architrave surrounds, pedimented doorcases, slate roof. The internal arrangements have been considerably altered.

Second Court Begun 1598, contracted by Ralph Symons and Gilbert Wigge. Red and yellow brick with Northamptonshire stone dressings and slate roofs. Two storeys and attics. North Range Ten bays. Lead rainwater heads dated 1599. Internally there is some C17 and C18 panelling. The Combination Room (originally the Master's Gallery has a plaster ceiling of circa 1600 by Cobbe. The walls are panelled throughout, divided by fluted and enriched Doric pilasters. Two fine fireplaces, one from the old Red Lion Inn. The ceiling continues in the small room on the West which is lined with mid C18 panelling. The West staircase is of 1628 and has walls of contemporary panelling. One attic room has panelling of circa 1600, the rest is C18. South Range This consists of sets of rooms and the Kitchen offices. The interior has features from different periods, original panelling of circa 1600; staircase and panelling from the mid C18. Cupboards and other fittings from circa 1600. West Range Externally similar to the other ranges except for the central gatetower, the Shrewsbury Tower. Three storeys with angle turrets and battlements. The archway has a four-centred head with label, the arms above are of 1671. The gatehall has a panelled stone vault in two bays. The room above has early C18 bolection moulded panelling; above that plain C18 panelling. The rest of the range has some original internal features, including panelling and fireplaces.

Third Court North Range including the Library. 1623-5. Red and yellow brick with freestone dressings. Ten bays. The ground floor has two four-centred lights to each bay, the first floor, which is the Library has two cinquefoil ogee lights in a traceried head to each bay. The North wall has five double bays separated by buttresses, the windows are similar. The river front has a two-storeyed three sided bay window, and is dated 1624. Internally, the ground floor has no ancient features, it was adapted for Library use in the C19. The Library has a ten bay roof restored by James Essex in 1783, and reconstructed 1927-8 the bookcases have been altered and are partly Jacobean and partly C18. The panelling is C17. The West window has heraldic glass of 1850. West Range 1669-73. Red brick with stone dressings, slate roofs. Three storey and attics. The East front has an projecting centrepiece with an open arcaded walk of six bays on either side. The centrepiece is of three stages with a Tuscan order. The arcading is ashlar with Tuscan pilasters. Two-light windows. The river front is in five bays divided by chimney projections. Rainwater-heads are dated 1672 and 1799 the main foundations were strengthened in 1777 and 1841. Shaped gables surmounted by finials. Internally the staircases are original and there are several rooms with original panelling and other features. South Range l669-73. Three storeys and attics. Eight bays. Dated 1671 on the river ront and on a rainwater head. Two four-centred lights in each bay. The interior of the range contains many original features including beams, fireplaces and panelling. There are also C19 features.