7, NORHAM GARDENS

Reasons for Designation

Built in 1862, this was the first house on the new Norham Manor Estate, by the chief estate architect, William Wilkinson. It was important as a showpiece for the new estate. Of special architectural interest for the domesticated Gothic style (asymmetrical gables, mullion and transom windows, stone archways, embattled parapets, zigzag ornamentation etc.) and its very complete interior with original doors, shutters, stairs, and hierarchy of carved stone fireplaces.

Details

612/0/10152 NORHAM GARDENS 07-OCT-08 7

GV II BUILDING: House, now school/college.

DATE: 1862. Extended 1867. Added conservatory. Minor service extensions of 1895.

ARCHITECT: William Wilkinson

MATERIALS: Red brick in English bond; stone window dressings and copings; steeply pitched slate roofs; brick stacks with corbelled stone caps. In Tudor Gothic style, with deeply chamfered mullion and transom windows, shallow pointed archways, and embattled parapet on zigzag table. Stone-coped gables on kneelers with carved foliage or gablets. Gothic rainwater heads.

PLAN: Roughly rectangular

FAÇADE: 2 storeys and attic. Faces south to garden and park, with entrance in west side and service front to road. Garden front has large dining room window to left, arched doorway below stair window to centre, and gable slightly advanced to right. Door has shouldered arches and twisted wrought iron bars to glazed panels. Gable has rectangular ground-floor bay window with hipped stone coping. Beyond to right is narrow link to matching gable of 1867, with canted wooden conservatory projecting to side. West side has gable to right, with cusped vent and blind projection for dining room alcove. Recessed centre behind porch has upper window with blind stone tracery panels. Porch is gabled, with trefoil vent, and arched doorway. Triple window to left with 3 cusped arched lights and stained glass. Blind single-storey bay to left with taller service range rising behind. Service front to north is plain without arches.

INTERIORS: Retains original stair with turned spindle balusters, and extension staircase with matchstick balusters. Original shutters, skirtings, and doorcases with architrave shafts and chamfered panel doors. Original stone fireplaces, arched and carved with zigzag or foliage in main family rooms: entrance hall with initials GS in spandrels; dining room with marble bosses; former library with paired marble colonnettes, rings and foliage capitals. Dining Room also has arched alcove and ceiling cornice with small quatrefoil frieze. Encaustic tiles in porch.

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. Norham Gardens was the first road to be laid out by St. John's as part of the intended suburb, with the south side of the road opening on to the University Parks. Built in 1862 (and first named `Park's End') and designed by the chief estate architect, William Wilkinson for Goldwin Smith, Professor of Modern History. Extended in matching style in 1867 to provide an additional drawing room and a nursery for Max Muller, Professor of Philology.

SOURCES: T. Hichcliffe, North Oxford

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Built in 1862, this was the first house on the new Norham Manor Estate, by the chief estate architect, William Wilkinson. It was important as a showpiece for the new estate. Of special architectural interest for the domesticated Gothic style (asymmetrical gables, mullion and transom windows, stone archways, embattled parapets, zigzag ornamentation etc.) and its very complete interior with original doors, shutters, stairs, and hierarchy of carved stone fireplaces.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

493695

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

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

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