It was rather a low-key ending, reading meters and collecting keys, but on February 9th 2017 Linton House was handed back to the Church after nearly 50 years’ service as a student hostel. We leased the land back in 1968 to the North West Baptist Housing Association, specifically created for this project, to build and run a hostel for overseas students. As a church which had a number of such students amongst the congregation and other contacts, we had become aware of the great difficulty overseas students were having in finding decent accommodation, particularly married students or those with families. Many landlords refused to let to “coloured” students, or charged exorbitant rents for substandard property. There were plans to build a large church on the site so it was not an easy decision to let the land for something else. By 1970 Linton House was completed and providing a welcome and a home to students (and their wives – no husbands then) from over 20 countries at any time in the 34 units of various shapes and sizes.
The early years were not easy with loans to service at a time of high inflation and interest rates. In 1981 the home passed to the Baptist Men’s Movement Housing Association. The position of overseas students changed rapidly after the Thatcher government’s introduction of differential “full cost” fees for non-EU students – they became a lucrative, and increasingly essential source of income, but Linton House remained a well-liked and distinctive residence. By 1991 maintaining a relatively small student residence was becoming increasingly difficult and the house was transferred to the University who continued to run it till the end of the 2017 academic year. Despite its quirks, unsuitability for the needs of many of today’s students and increasing deterioration in the building structure, it remained a well-loved place till the end. It retained a particular international flavour and its out of the way location was liked. However it has now come to the end of its useful life as a student residence, and indeed as a building – it is now an empty site awaiting its next use.
We have written a short history of Linton House including stories and recollections of the place which you can read here: LIntonHouseStory-Final.
All the pictures we have are available on Flickr at https://flic.kr/s/aHskPmNRhY