Cornell University Library

No. 3, Norham Gardens, named "Garford House". Grade II listed. Built in 1866/67, architect: Charles Buckeridge. This photograph shows the house just like it was originally built. Later, in the 1890s it was heavily extended (by about 50%) to the west (right), the entrance was moved to the street side and a large porch was added. The conservatory seen here was demolished, a new one being built at the houses' southeast side. Photographs from the 1960s show a second entrance door, vanished again in the 2000s, thus this house would have had been temporarily subdivided into multiple flats. That's why the brickwork of the front fassade looks a bit cobbled together today. Offered for sale at £ 5.5m in 2017, finally sold in 2022 to Atlantic Institute who refurbished the house as an 8-bedroom fellows residence and named it "Kopanong". The house in the background on the left is No. 5 Norham Gardens (by W. WIlkinson, 1865) which, although later divided into 4 flats, has retained its original character since 150 years. Sources: - T. Hinchcliffe: North Oxford (Yale Univ. Press) - Historic England Archive, Red Box Collection

This is my old school!

Built in 1847 as Leamington College, it then housed the Sacred Heart Catholic Convent from 1903-1916, and subsequently Dover College from 1916-1922, before once again becoming Leamington College for Boys. I was a pupil here from 1959 to 1966.

In 1977 as part of secondary school reorganization, it became Binswood Hall sixth-form centre. It finally closed altogether in 2009, was sold for redevelopment, and is currently (July 2010) awaiting conversion into a retirement flats complex.

Strange to tell, my current home is a flat in a retirement flats complex in Bristol.

No. 31, Banbury Road, North Oxford, seen from east. Built in 1866, architect: William Wilkinson Named 'The Firs', this building is illustrated in Mr. Wilkinson's book "English Country Houses" (Plates XIII and XIV). Decades later (before 1953, exact date unknown), The Firs was aquired by St. Anne's Society (formerly Society of Oxford Home-Students) in order to extend accommodation capabilities of Springfield St. Mary which was originally established by Anglican nuns at No. 33 Banbury Road (partially visible on the right, also imaged here and here in this album). After receiving college status in 1952, and stimulated by generous fundings from Wolfson and Rayne Foundations, St. Anne's developed ambitious plans for new accommodation buildings, a total of 6 blocks of which only 2 were finally realized. No. 31 Banbury Road had to make way for the second one, Rayne Building and was demolished in 1966. Sources: - T. Hinchcliffe: North Oxford (Yale Univ. Press) - Internet Archive (archive.org) for "English Country Houses" - Historic England Archive, Red Box Collection, Photographs by Peter Spencer Spokes - History of the Nettleship Library (VI): A String of Pearls, found at St. Anne's College's web site.