Keele: Plateglass pioneer - A Degree of Modernism

A recent visit to Stoke-on-Trent provided an opportunity to spend time at nearby Keele University.

A short bus journey from the Potteries centre, Keele University occupies a greenfield campus in North Staffordshire, situated between Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent and roughly midway between Birmingham and Manchester. The campus reflects substantial recent investment, including upgrades to the Students’ Union and the installation of the Forest of Light sculpture marking the University’s fiftieth anniversary. With an on-site science park and conference facilities, it remains one of the largest campus universities in the UK.

The University is located within a 630-acre estate of woodland, lakes, and parkland, formerly owned by the Sneyd family, who were active as merchants and developers in the region and contributed to the shaping of neighbouring Keele village. During the Second World War the site was used by the British Army, before being purchased by Stoke-on-Trent Corporation in 1948. Elements of this military infrastructure remain visible today, including repurposed Nissen huts named after Major Peter Norman Nissen, who developed their design during the First World War which continued to serve as accommodation for students and staff into the 1960s.

Keele received its Royal Charter in 1962, gaining degree-awarding powers and independence from validation through the University of London. Its origins lie slightly earlier, with the founding of the University College of North Staffordshire in 1949 through collaboration between the University Extension Movement and the Workers’ Educational Association. The project attracted prominent academics to the region: A.D. Lindsay, whose vision positioned Keele within the emerging landscape of post-war higher education reform.

Lord Lindsay (1879–1952), originally from Scotland, played a central role at Keele. Educated at Glasgow and Oxford, he held positions including a fellowship in moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and teaching roles at Manchester and Balliol College, Oxford. After military service during the First World War, he became involved in higher education and adult learning, eventually serving as Vice-Chancellor at Oxford before becoming the founding Principal of University College of North Staffordshire. His emphasis on interdisciplinary study, small-group teaching, and broad-based education became known as the “Keele Experiment,” demonstrating a wider ambition to rethink university education in response to social change.

Although Keele is often discussed alongside the expansion of new 1960s universities, it is not typically classified as a “plateglass” university in the strict sense defined by Michael Beloff. Founded slightly earlier, its development was influenced by slightly different policies, such as the Barlow Report (1946) which identified Staffordshire as a region in need of a university. Nonetheless, Keele’s experimental ethos and early adoption of interdisciplinary teaching positioned it as an important precursor to later institutional developments.

The campus core contains an eclectic mix of architectural styles, including the Library (1962) and Students’ Union (1963), arranged around a central pedestrian spine. The University Chapel, designed in 1958 by architect George Pace, remains a focal point. Conceived as an ecumenical space accommodating multiple Christian traditions, it was jointly consecrated by Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Free Church representatives. Completed in 1965 using distinctive blue Staffordshire brick, the chapel reflects Pace’s disciplined and restrained architectural language, characterised by steeply pitched forms and carefully considered fenestration.

Thanks to Keele University Library and Special Collections for their support with archival images.

Additional photographs from the visit are available via Flickr.

COPYRIGHT KEELE UNIVERSITY NOT TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION — *_{Keele University Horwood Hall student accommodation 1965.}*

388EF176-153D-4854-B0EB-F5743C60C1EF — _{Keele University Library, designed by Sir Howard Robertson and completed in 1962, was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as being “in the style of a Swiss chalet.” The building has evolved alongside the wider development of the university. In its first year, the library recorded approximately 98,000 visits; by 2012, annual footfall had grown to more than 700,000.}

F4BD9E9C-E7D2-4EEB-B05C-4937DA46DBE8 — *_{One of the original military Second World War buildings.}*

22753E5E-B44F-47C5-8CF8-E237217E5E3C — *_{Wing of the Library Building.}*

709E2F70-CF8A-4300-B21B-7FFBC9E025BF — _{Horwood House, originally built as the Warden’s House, is believed to have been completed around 1958–1959, although the architect remains unknown. Historic England Research Records note that the building was constructed circa 1959 and occupied by 1960. A structure is shown on a 1956 development plan of the university site prepared by R. D. Hunt, suggesting its inclusion within the early phases of campus planning.}

Keele University Horwood 99 — *_{Keele University, Horwood. House.}*

FFDA29C9-7499-4F65-8546-DE1F9A7AC550 — *_{Keele University Chapel.}*

B3FE3AC1-4EE0-42B8-8F9F-B2E9D4B625AC — *_{‘Austere, highly disciplined and timeless.’ Pace’s Chapel, designed from 1958, completed in 1965 with blue bricks.}*

Comments

‘Architecturally evocative.. but more importantly.. metaphorically accurate’ – University of Salford and the 'White Heat' of Modernity says:

September 30, 2022 at 12:04 pm

[…] mention of prototype Keele (1962) or slightly later Stirling (1967) and Ulster (1968). Such focus on the seven seems to […]
Architecturally grounded and focused, Building the New Universities. – University of Salford and the 'White Heat' of Modernity says:

December 29, 2022 at 12:26 pm

[…] Such uniqueness, the group’s impact is comparable to the twelfth century’s cathedral-building movement. Birks makes no specific reference to this comparison, but we can thank the Architectural Review. An exaggeration, perhaps? Aesthetically poles apart, assumptions to this claim can only be architectural similarities through their planning, like their national scale of development and construction speed. Birks is grounded in his comparison. In more recent times (and thankfully so), it is the twentieth-century new towns where similar comparisons to their foundations apply. Observations like this are where he excels; they are objective and architecturally focused. A similar remark with Keele University, recognising Lord Alexander Dunlop Lindsay’s (1879-1952) institutional impact as a “progenitor or forerunner” to the new universities. However, Keele’s failure to appoint an earlier consultant architect led to a “physical environment so mediocre that it belies the experiment of the university itself”. Architecturally, the campus fell short of its Founding Principal’s vision. An earlier appointment of a consultant architect may have alleviated the disappointment felt by the dreary municipal architecture designed by the City Architect, claims Birks Make up your own mind here. […]
Dare we say Utopian universities… – University of Salford and the 'White Heat' of Modernity says:

April 12, 2023 at 9:42 pm

[…] Report, are central to this book. Associated essays on Stirling and Ulster (slightly later), and Keele (marginally earlier) add further context. References to Beloff arrive early. While his […]
Universities: a brief overview – A Degree of Modernism says:

February 7, 2026 at 11:10 am

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