This Grade II listed building was designed for George Palmer of the Huntley & Palmers biscuit company by Alfred Waterhouse, the architect of Reading Town Hall and Reading School. Originally called East Thorpe, it was donated to the University College and became St Andrew's Hall, initially for female students. It was extended in 1911. In the 2000s it was converted and extended to house the University's special collections and the Museum of English Rural Life.

The old stable block, which has an entrance on Redlands Road, was used as an armory for the University College's Officer Training Corps. Next to it is the white lodge. They are now used for staff accommodation.

Edith Morley was appointed Professor of English Language at the University College becoming the first woman appointed to a chair at an English university-level institution. Her specialty was English literature.

In 1950, she was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), an honor awarded for her work setting up the Reading Refugee Committee and assisting Belgian Jewish refugees in the Second World War.

Wilfred Owen appears on the list of service-people with links to the College but he does not appear on the Clock Tower's memorial plaque. It seems that he first studied Botany and Latin but was encouraged by Professor Edith Morley to change his studies to English.

Wilfred Owen was a teacher and is best known as a war poet. He served in the First World War as a Lieutenant in the 5th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery at Joncourt in October 1918. He was killed in action on the 4th November 1918.

The Acacias was built with Bath stone facing in 1818 for a coal and salt merchant so it was known locally as Salt Box Hall. The house was sold to a Mary Wienholt in 1821 and bought by George Palmer in 1863. The Palmers held many open afternoons for local school children in the garden. Over time they acquired the whole estate, some of which had been owned by the Sutton family and used as a seed nursery. In 1897, George's son Alfred inherited the estate and in 1904 he generously leased it to the University College.

The house was donated for use by staff as a Senior Common Room and this use is maintained today.

The Friends donated £1,500 in 1985 for landscaping at Acacias.

Between 1989 and 2004 part of the site was owned by a Japanese foundation, Gyosei (later Witan) International College. The University and College collaborated to erect these gates.

The arms of the University of Reading were granted in 1896 when the University Extension College was still part of Oxford University. The Lancaster Rose comes from the arms of the Royal County of Berkshire. The cross derives from the arms of Christ Church Oxford which are those of it founder, Cardinal Wolsey. The scallop shells come from the arms of Reading Abbey - a reminder that the first college was once part of the Abbey. Scallop shells are symbols of a pilgrim or 'palmer' and they might allude to Reading's Palmer family. Walter Palmer, son of the co-founder of the Huntley and Palmers biscuit firm, was the first President of Reading University Extension College and the family remain benefactors of the University today.

Gyosei means 'rising star'. The College was a Catholic foundation and its shield depicts the star above bay leaves, a symbol of the Virgin Mary.

In 1992 The Friends donated £750 towards the gates.

The oldest building is believed to be Green Bank which was built around 1770; the house name can be seen engraved in the wall outside.

Built around 1770, the Old Red Building, formerly known as Portland Place was where former Mayor William Silver Darter attended school around 1806 – referenced in his book ‘Reminiscences of Reading’. It subsequently housed the Education Department.

The next door building was St David's Hall primarily for those students who did not live-in. It was subsequently used by Gyosei College for accommodation.

The Friends donated:

1932 £100 Furniture for the Long Room in St David's Hall

1971 £500 recreational facilities in the Hall.

Built in 1905, the Great Hall is used for ceremonial occasions such as degree days. It is also used for examinations, so please keep the noise down in this area.

Donations from The Friends of the University:

1932 £25 for a clock in the Great Hall. It is still in place but nowadays is often stopped if there is no activity in the Hall as its mechanism is frail.

1954 £250 Stage equipment and lighting (for the Guild of the Red Rose, a student organisation which ran an annual event called Jantaculum)

1996 £4,000 refurbishment of the Great Hall organ

£1,746 Lectern carving

2001 Great Hall music stands

2008 £290 Folding podium (for Music)

2009 £3,000 Lectern

The Friends have also sponsored concerts in the Great Hall

Gustav Holst was teacher of harmony and composition from 1920-1923. He also conducted the College's orchestra and choral society. In 1923 he fell from the stage in the Great Hall while conducting, suffering a mild concussion.

Material from the University's archive has revealed the esteem in which students held their illustrious lecturer. He is described as ‘a curious blend of the visionary and the practical - a rare combination indeed'. His teaching style was ‘to draw out of his pupils all that was best of them by any means in his power' and ‘making them learn by doing'. The secret of his teaching success ‘came as much from the joy which he got from music and with which he infected them'.

In 1934, The Friends of the University donated £750 for "cloister paving and superstructure". We believe this would have been for the new building area to the west of the Library

Other Friends' donations in the cloister area include:

1972 £400 Garden furniture

1982 £200 Garden seats

The Gymnasium was built in 1914. You can see a discus thrower in the gable, and the College coat of arms above the entrance.>/p>

In the 1990s it was used by Gyosei International College, and in the 2000s was converted into a high density store for the University archives and special collections. More recently it has been reconverted to a gym and is now used to train student teachers in the University's Institute of Education.

This building originally housed the British Dairy Institute and you can see reminders of this in the pictures around its walls while equipment used in the Institute can be seen in the nearby Museum of English Rural Life.

The building now houses a cafe which is open to the public. The outside seating area is on the platform used to deliver milk in bulk in its past. The University maintains a strong tradition in dairy research and teaching to this day.