Goodenough College

Goodenough College is an educational charity that provides residential accommodation for talented British and international postgraduates and their families studying in London.

Goodenough has residential and study facilities and provides a programme of activities whose goal is to enhance students' personal, social and intellectual development.

Goodenough and his friends wanted to provide collegiate life along Oxbridge lines to young men coming to London from the British dominions and colonies, who could be seen as prospective leaders of what was then a large empire.

The College aimed to serve as a moot hall for its residents, and a place where they could form lasting friendships in a spirit of tolerance and understanding.

A new London House for 300 single students was built between 1935 and 1963 to the designs of the architect Herbert Baker, his partner Alexander Scott, and their successor Vernon Helbing.

The southeast corner includes the Great Hall, Charles Parsons Library, common rooms, and the Guilford Street entrance.

In the 1940s, at the instigation of the Chairman of the College Governors, William Goodenough, the Lord Mayor of London launched a Thanksgiving Fund to raise money in the U.K., and to thank people of Commonwealth countries and the United States for gifts, including food parcels, during and after World War II.

The two parallel institutions developed their characters over time – the quiet surroundings of the WGH common rooms appealed to some LH residents, and various "Willie G" girls preferred the noisier atmosphere of the London House bar.

[citation needed] Traditions developed, such as the LH rugby team singing lullabies to the inhabitants of WGH after the annual sports dinner, and many LH-WGH romances flourished, and in some cases resulted in marriage and children.

There were delays because the Georgian houses are listed buildings in a conservation area, and the work required the approval of both English Heritage and the London Borough of Camden planning department.