Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane moved into the Victorian house on 5 West Road in 1975 after the stairs at their previous Cambridge townhouse became unmanageable as his motor neurone disease progressed. Gonville & Caius College installed a lift and reconfigured the interior to create what the college described as "lateral living," allowing Hawking to work, teach and raise their three children without leaving campus.
Hawking recalled in a 2015 speech at the college that he penned A Brief History of Time there, a work that would later sell roughly 20 million copies worldwide. The book, published in 1988, translated complex cosmological concepts into lay language and cemented Hawking’s reputation as a science writer.
In 1985 Hawking suffered severe pneumonia while on a research trip to Switzerland. Doctors asked Jane whether life support should be withdrawn; the college financed a chartered flight that brought him back to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. After a tracheotomy he lost his natural voice and relied on a computer‑generated speech synthesiser to continue communicating.
The site was earmarked for redevelopment in the early 2000s. Hawking himself cut the first sod in February 2005, and a foundation stone was unveiled later that year. The new Stephen Hawking Building was completed in 2007, converting the former family residence into a college accommodation block.
The £10 million project, financed by more than 2,000 donors from the college community, now houses 75 undergraduate rooms, eight fellows’ sets and three supervision rooms. Its distinctive S‑shaped design preserves mature trees that once stood on the original property, maintaining a tangible link to Hawking’s legacy.