Wills Memorial Building Address Doors Open Day at the University of Bristol Saturday 14 September 2013 A brief guide to the buildings open between 10am and 4pm Wills Memorial Building Theatre Collection Royal Fort House Clifton Hill House Bristol Heart Institute (open between 10am and 2pm) Welcome Wills Memorial Building Queen’s Road, BS8 1RJ We hope you enjoy visiting the buildings Guided tours There will be free tours to the top of the in this year’s programme: Tower. These must be booked on the day, on a first come, first served basis.† The Wills Memorial Building, Royal Fort House, Visit the Tower Tours reception desk on the Theatre Collection, Clifton Hill House and the ground floor to reserve a place. Tour times: 9.55am, 10.15am, the Bristol Heart Institute. 10.35am, 10.55am, 11.15am, 11.35am, 11.55am, 12.15pm, 12.35pm, 13.15pm, 13.35pm, The University of Bristol is pleased to This booklet gives you: 13.55pm, 14.15pm, 14.35pm, participate once more in Bristol Doors Times of free tours taking place at the 14.55pm, 15.15pm. Open Day 2013, a day when many of venues open today Tours also take place on the first Bristol’s significant contemporary and Short histories of the buildings Saturday and Wednesday of every month. historic buildings open their doors Notes on what to look out for while Information from Dave Skelhorne; to the general public. No advance you are visiting. tel: 0777 0265108 booking is required. email: [email protected] bristoldoorsopenday.org If you require additional support at any of The Entrance Hall, Reception Room and these events, such as wheelchair access or Library will all be open for free public The University is also hosting sign language interpretation, please contact viewing. Unfortunately because of the an Undergraduate Open Day on Diane Thorne; tel: +44 (0)117 331 8318, Undergraduate Open Day the Great Hall 14 September, which is open to email: [email protected], will not be open for public viewing. prospective applicants and their at the earliest opportunity. supporters for which advance booking A short history FREE ADMISSION is essential. George and Henry Wills of the Wills Tobacco bristol.ac.uk/opendays Company, who wanted to create a lasting memorial to their father, Henry Overton Wills Since the Wills Memorial Building will For further information about the III, paid for the Wills Memorial Building to The building be open for both events it is likely University’s participation in Bristol be built. Henry Overton Wills III’s pledge of The building was designed in 1912 by to be particularly busy but as part of Doors Open Day, contact: £100,000 in 1908 made the foundation of George Oatley (1863 -1950) who was Doors Open Day you are very welcome Centre for Public Engagement the University possible the following year. The knighted for his work. It was constructed to visit the building as well as the University of Bristol brothers wanted to give the new University an by the builders Henry Willcock & Co. of research exhibition in the Reception Senate House impressive main building on a conspicuous Wolverhampton and was one of the last Room. Volunteers will be on hand Tyndall Avenue site. The final bill came to £500,000. buildings in this country to be built using to answer any questions; and this Bristol, BS8 1TH wooden scaffolding. The First World War † brochure and signs indicate the areas T +44 (0)117 331 8313 Health and safety – unfortunately, children under held up construction of the building and age 8 are not allowed to go up the Tower. There are it was not until 9 June 1925 that King of the building which are open for E [email protected] more than 200 steps and some enclosed spaces. viewing. bristol.ac.uk/public-engagement When a tour coincides with Great George chiming the George V opened it. The building is now hour, disposable earplugs will be provided. Grade II* listed. Wills Memorial Building Queen’s Road, BS8 1RJ Although to many Bristolians, the Wills and erected by a team of just seven men. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR Simpson Memorial Building is the whole of the University, External restoration of the Queen’s Road today it only houses part of it: the School of elevation and Library is being carried out by Entrance Hall – ground floor Nick Earth Sciences and the University of Bristol Rowland Stonemasonry Ltd and is due for This is one of the most impressive rooms School of Law, together with their libraries. completion in late 2013. in the building and is 75 feet (or 23 metres) high. Notice the massive double staircases Restoration The Tower to the first floor and Gothic fan vaulting on In 2006, the Tower was subject to a The Tower, in the Gothic Perpendicular style, the ceiling. In the middle of the vaulting is £750,000 restoration, the main contractors is one of Bristol’s most prominent landmarks a decorative oak cover over the aperture for which were W. R. Bedford, Stonemasons. and is 215 feet (or 65.5 metres) high. where the bell, ‘Great George’, was hoisted This included cleaning the stonework, into the belfry. repainting the shields on the exterior and Great George installing discreet, energy-efficient floodlights The nine-and-a-half-ton bell at the top of the The original Founder’s Window lost its glass to illuminate it at night. Tower is known as ‘Great George’ after the in the Second World War and the existing architect, Sir George Oatley, King George V window is a new design showing the shields The scaffolding consisted of a network of and George Wills. Great George is the sixth of all the early supporters of the University. 9,000 steel tubes, which weighed a total largest bell in Britain and the largest bell that of 300 tons and which, if laid end to end, can be rung by hand. The bell’s note is E-flat Library – first floor would run for 56 kilometres. There were and it was the deepest-toned in the UK A bust of the architect of the building, Sir Centenary garden also 90 tons of scaffold boards equivalent when it was made. It is now usually struck George Oatley, can be found near the entrance Outside the building is the Centenary garden, to 50 lorry-loads of materials, all handled externally between 7am and 11pm. to the library. The oldest part of the library a public space designed by Anne de Verteuil is 100 feet (or 30.5 metres) long and has a in celebration of the University’s centenary beautiful 16th-century style plaster ceiling. in 2009. HANDS-ON RESEARCH chemistry to systems thinking. Come Research exhibition, 10am to 4pm and explore how chemical analysis can Reception Room, Wills Memorial help us reveal secrets from the past, Building experiment how bees communicate with flowers using electric fields, learn Get a taste of the research that goes how to address complex problems on at the University by visiting our with systems thinking and join us on a interactive exhibition in the Reception journey from the world of the audible Room of the Wills Memorial Building. sound to the hidden world of ultrasound. We have exhibits showcasing hands-on Take the opportunity to talk to our activities, from sound and engineering researchers, uncover new insights, and to the biology of insects and from make your own discoveries. Theatre Collection 21 Park Row, BS1 5LY Guided tours A short history of the building The building is constructed into the hillside, There are no guided tours but Theatre The Vandyck Building was constructed in and has a partial ground floor, limited to the Collection staff will be on hand throughout 1911-1912 to house the Vandyck Printers front part of the building. The main printing the day to answer questions about the Limited. It was one of a number of printing works were on the first and second floors building and the Theatre Collection. There businesses located on Park Row in the (although nothing now remains of the works). will be an opportunity to preview the Theatre early twentieth century. The building is An extension to the rear was completed Collection’s new exhibition, ‘The Secret Life constructed from Pennant stone in the Arts in 1920. In 1964, the company sold the of Objects’, and talk to the curators. Please and Craft style. It was designed by Mowbray building to the University of Bristol and the note that only the publicly accessible parts Aston Green (1866-1946). Green had also Drama Department moved into the building of the building occupied by the Theatre designed an earlier, neighbouring printing in March 1968. Collection will be open. works for E. W. Savory, fine art publishers, in 1905. About the Theatre Collection The Theatre Collection is an accredited museum and one of the world’s largest archives of British theatre and Live Art. Founded in 1951 to serve the country’s Collection first Drama Department, it is now an The building today Theatre internationally renowned research facility Bristol open to all. of Exhibition The collections cover all aspects of theatre The Theatre Collection also has a small University history and visitors include everyone from exhibition area in which a regularly changing international scholars to family historians. selection from its holdings is displayed. Alongside a large archive and museum On Doors Open Day visitors will have the collection, which is mostly stored off site, opportunity to preview ‘The Secret Life the Theatre Collection’s resources include a of Objects’, the Theatre Collection’s new library of over 20,000 books and more than exhibition, which explores the hidden 200 journal titles.