The Window Tax

The Window Tax at Queen’s College

Presidents Lodge at Queens College

Built in the 1460s and still standing on The River Cam today is the President’s Lodge at Queen’s College, Cambridge University. It forms part of Cloister Court which is most famously connected to The Mathematical Bridge, a well-known sight on a punting tour of Cambridge. Although most guides will focus their narrative on The Mathematical Bridge, The President’s Lodge quietly displays some unusual architectural features, not to mention some impressive longevity.

Close observers from Silver Street Bridge or from a punt on The Cam will have noticed the bizarrely small windows of The President’s Lodge in Queen’s College. Next to the beautiful bay window, perched directly over the river are sporadically placed tiny windows. Why such opulence next to such cost-cutting? The answer lies in the old taxation system, window tax.

A brief history of the window tax

Introduced in 1696 the tax was designed to be a means of taxation without intruding so heavily into personal finances as to demand to know an individual’s income. If your property contained many windows, it was clear you were wealthy, you could afford both glass for the windows and your heating bills! Tax evasion in those days was as common as it is now and architects, builders and property owners dodged the scheme by installing windows and bricking them up to be uncovered later when the taxation system changed! It even gave rise to the phrase “daylight robbery”.

Join us on a tour of The College Backs on The Cam to see these unusual windows, hear about the Mathematical Bridge and see tax evasion that’s 350 years old!