Trevelyan College, Durham

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Trevelyan College, Durham

Motto Vera fictis libentius "Truth more readily than falsehood"

Founded 1966 Principal Prof Martyn Evans Location Elvet Hill Road Students 559 undergraduate, 30 postgraduate (2004)

Trevelyan, Trevs, or the Hexagonal Palace, is a college of Durham University - taking its name from historian George Macaulay Trevelyan, who was Chancellor of the University from 1950 to 1957.

Trevs' internal layout is highly unusual. Essentially, it is a string of hexagons (apparently designed as a modern interpretation of Durham Castle), this leads to a lot of inside rooms containing strange angles. One explanation is that the architect believed that women — for whom the college was originally designed, becoming fully mixed only in 1992 — would be intimidated by a building full of right angles and corners. Others have speculated that the building is designed to minimise privacy and make it difficult to "misbehave", as the unique layout means that almost all of the rooms have windows overlooked by other windows. Fortunately, we have evolved curtains since the 60s and this is no longer an issue. Not all of the rooms are overlooked - though some are located on what is popularly known as "The Goldfishbowl" - a circle of rooms looking over a now roofed-over courtyard (the bar) - from any one of which, it is possible to see into many of your fellows' rooms.

Other than that, the layout features rooms based around staircases, landings and courtyards. When the college became fully mixed, one of the courtyards was roofed to provide a new, much enlarged bar. The Undercroft, a relaxing seating area, links the bar with the rear of the college. The entrance hall is called the Cobbles, although said cobbles are no longer there having been removed during a modern refit.

The building, built in the 1960s, has won a Civic Design Award. More modern additions include the K-block with en-suite rooms and the Sir Jimmy Knott Hall. Approximately 320 students can be housed in the building, and around 500 are members of the college, making Trevs one of the smaller of Durham's colleges. Its shield bears the upper half of a horse swimming in water, which is reflected humorously in the title of the alumni magazine, Hippocampus.

This TSRian and Trevelyanite would like to point out that this article (while factually accurate) sounds very much like a guidebook, and is not reflective of Trevs in day-to-day life at all. I will endeavour to correct this oversight and include more detail on the college as soon as I have some more free time.