Fisher Building from Silver StreetFisher Building from Silver Street
Fisher Building was erected in 1936 to the design of G.C. Drinkwater, architect. It continued the Queens' tradition of using red brick. The windowframes are of teak, and all internal woodwork is oak. It was the first student accommodation in Queens' to lie west of the river. It was also the first building in Queens' to have bathrooms and toilets on the staircase landings close to the student rooms. These were so clearly evident that it prompted an observer at that time to comment that the building "seemed to have been designed by a sanitary engineer". Fisher originally comprised 82 two-room sets on five staircases (T,V,W,X,Y), although alterations in the 1970s caused four sets to be lost to a new boilerhouse and Porters' Lodge. Except in the attics, each of these sets is now shared by two undergraduates, usually second years. The attic sets are still in single occupation.
The building is named after John Fisher, President of Queens' 1505 - 1508. He became Bishop of Rochester in 1504, and a Cardinal in 1535. He was executed on 22 June 1535, and canonised as St John Fisher by the Roman Catholic Church in 1935.
The railings and gateway with brick pillars were erected in 1994-95 to form a secure boundary to the college site.
In 1998, the sets on V staircase (except the attics) were fitted with en-suite showers and toilets, and the space thereby released by redundant toilets and bathrooms on the staircases allowed the gyp-rooms to be expanded and modernised. In 1999, it is planned to do the same on X and Y staircases.
This view shows the entrance to W staircase. Click here for a similar view in 1936.