Downing was founded by Sir George Downing, third baronet, with wealth left by his grandfather, the first baronet, who served both Cromwell and Charles II and built No. 10 Downing Street, which has been for 250 years the London home of the Prime Minister.
The College buildings were built on Pembroke Leys, an area of about 30 acres of small fields between Regent Street and Tennis Court Road. The first buildings were erected in 1807-1812 to the design of William Wilkins (1775-1839) who was greatly influenced by the buildings he had seen in Greece. Until recent foundations, Downing was the only Cambridge College to be designed as a whole, instead of being added to as occasion permitted.
The West Range, with the Hall opposite the Master's Lodge, was built in 1818 to 1820. Originally there was a free-standing Professor's house in each of the ranges but the intervening spaces have been built up and the former houses now provide seminar rooms and studies on the east and meeting rooms on the west.
In 2010 the final (south) side of the Howard Court was completed with the Howard Theatre (designed by Mr Quinlan Terry and his son Francis). The Georgian-style auditorium, modelled on William Wilkin’s remaining working theatre (the Theatre Royal in Bury St. Edmunds) and the similar Richmond Theatre in Yorkshire, complements the 21st century green design of the building which incorporates ground-source heating/ cooling and solar heated water.