Cambridge 2000: Thompson's Lane: The Varsity Hotel and Spa
| Description: Thompson's Lane: The Varsity Hotel and Spa |
| Date built: 2008-2010 |
This is a good example of the planning system gone wrong.
The building is way too high for the neighbourhood, at
seven storeys. The developer kept changing the application,
from residential to part residential to a hotel. At the
front the ground floor view is dominated by a blank wall and
the service entrance. The hotel entrance, at the right in the
photo, is barely noticeable.
The access to the site by car is not good. And there is no
parking for guests. The nearest car parking is in the
Park Street Car Park,
which is around 100m by foot but around 2km by car.
Fortunately the rooms inside seem to have been designed with
a bit more thought than was put into the building.
In May/June 2011 the blank wall at the left on the ground floor
was replaced by a sculpture, Helix, by Christophe Gordon-Brown
(in fact it is a double helix, which is appropriate in
Cambridge).
Other photographs within 100 m:
