66, BANBURY ROAD

Reasons for Designation

There are many speculatively constructed villas of the later C19 in North Oxford, and great care needs to be exercised in selecting from among them those which through their design, or historic significance, meet the criteria to be added to the list. This is a large and striking composition of 1869 in a prominent street-corner position, which internally has a striking painted staircase hall. Designated at grade II.

Details

612/0/10151 BANBURY ROAD 07-OCT-08 66

GV II House, now used as a language school. 1869 with C20 additions including wing to left of 1961. Architect: Frederick Codd.

MATERIALS: Yellow brick, with flush red band to base and flush blue arches; stone dressings; plain tile roof with coped gables.

EXTERIOR: Two storeys, semi-basement and attic, with 4-storey tower to left. High Victorian Gothic, with arched stone windows and carved capitals. Front: tower has stone parapet with Gothic arcading, square turret to front left corner, and single and 3-light windows with stone arches on piers. Other front windows have arches on colonnettes. Central entrance bay has quatrefoil parapet, gabled dormer, and 2-light window over Gothic porch with arcaded parapet on columns. Steps up to arched doorway containing 1990 plank door with scrolled hinges in style of Nos. 55-61 Banbury Road. Gable to right has 2-light attic window over canted bay with quatrefoil/trefoil ornament to parapet and window spandrels. Plate-glass sashes throughout, with 1990s internal security bars to ground floor. Flat-roofed C20 extension to right at basement level only; 1961 wing set back to left in c.1700 style with hipped roof and sashes in stone architrave surrounds. C20 weatherboarded extensions attached to rear. None of the three C20 additions are of special architectural interest.

INTERIORS: Central staircase has lower flight with original twisted iron balustrade and newels, and tiled dado painted with Ancient Egyptian scenes. Turned wooden balustrade to upper flight. Entrance screen with leaded glazing. Remainder retains original plan, with restored ceiling cornices and replacement doors in original style. Fireplaces removed except for one to first-floor rear, probably not original.

HISTORY: The North Oxford suburb evolved from about 1860 on land owned by St. John's College, with the College gradually making available discreet sets of building plots to lease as it sought to ensure a firm financial future for its endowment. St. John's kept strict control of the development, both in terms of the scale of the houses, and their distribution. All designs were vetted for quality, and to ensure adequate provision of front walls and railings, and rear gardens. Frederick Codd was among the most prolific builders, and this house of 1869 is among many commissions he undertook in North Oxford at about this date. Used by Wolsey Hall (correspondence college) from 1930. Now owned by Technos International College, with original house occupied by The Oxford English Centre.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: There are many speculatively constructed villas of the later C19 in North Oxford, and great care needs to be exercised in selecting from among them those which through their design, or historic significance, meet the criteria to be added to the list. This is a large and striking composition of 1869 in a prominent street-corner position, which internally has a striking painted staircase hall.

SOURCES: T. Hinchcliffe, North Oxford (1992)

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

493694

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Hinchcliffe, T, North Oxford, ()

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