| Individual or organisational biography | Wimbledon College of Arts is the smallest college of University of the Arts London with approximately 700 students. The College has been at its present site since 1940, having been based at Wimbledon Technical Institute for some years prior to the move.
The origins of the college date back to 1890 at Rutlish School, Merton where regular drawing classes began to take place and laid the foundation for what would become Wimbledon School of Art. These classes were then moved to a purpose built site in Gladstone Road in 1904. As student numbers continued to grow, plans were made to create a new building to house the school. This was built on Merton Hall Road and opened in 1940.
Over the decades that followed, the school continued to expand with a purpose-built theatre opening in 1963, purpose-built library and lecture theatre in 1968 and a new sculpture studio in 1971. Also at this time, a second site in Palmerston Road was used to accommodate Graphic Design and Foundation courses with the latter remaining there until 2011. |