Cornell University Library

Nos. 12-13 & 14-15 Parks Road, North Oxford, seen from north east. Built in 1868 and 1869, architect(s) unspecified, Semi-detached houses on the Keble Road Triangle, called "South/North Grove" (Nos. 12/13) and "East View" (Nos. 14/15). The two remaining of originally four Victorian buildings on this section of Parks Road. Though no informations are available about the architects, Nos. 12-13 can be attributed to Frederick Codd, whose designs at 2 Bevington Rd and 58 Woodstock Rd are identical in style and workmanship. Nos. 14-15 represent a semi type which is quite common in this area, similar buildings can be found near Museums Rd and on Blackhall Rd, and particularly on Winchester Road. No. 15 was later enlarged at the north side, with additional windows and a chimney, furthermore attaching an extension at the north west corner. Everything else looks today almost like on this photograph, just 150 years older. A blue plaque at No. 12 notes today that this was the home of Novelist Joyce Cary from 1920 until his death in 1957. In 1963, Oxford University's Department of Theoretical Physics, headed by Prof. Rudolf Peierls, moved into Nos. 12 to 14. At that time the Victorian houses were already surrounded by modern buildings of the developing Science Area. Today, both buildings are housing offices and laboratories of the Department of Materials. The houses - not occupied yet - look brand new on this photograph, as if the last brick was set moments ago, the site not completely being cleaned up, thus the date of the photograph should also be around 1869. Sources: - T. Hinchcliffe: North Oxford (Yale Univ. Press) - Town Plan of Oxfordshire XXXIII.15.7 (1876), National Library of Scotland - Internet Archive (archive.org)

Odd that it's standing there on its own...but intriguing!

No. 54, Banbury Road, North Oxford. "Laleham", today known as Wycliffe Hall, seen from west. Built in 1866, architect: J. Gibbs, grade II listed. This house was built for Thomas Arnold the Younger and his family, who offered tutorials there, including accomodation for his pupils at Laleham. See also the south east view of the same building in this album. The impressive entrance gate is no more directly visible today, since a dining hall (now used as a lecture room) was built in front of the fassade. The modest doorway at the north (left) side would probably lead to the student rooms. The building in the background on the right is No. 1 Norham Gardens, with its characteristic chimney in white framework. The house in the background on the left would probably be (todays) No. 4 Bradmore Road. It's still scaffolded, thus, considering the lease dates, this photograph should have been taken between 1870 and 1872. On closer inspection, people can be found in some photographs of this collection, who are watching the scenery from inside. In this picture, someone (perhaps a member of the household staff) is looking out of the basement window left of the entrance. Sources: - T. Hinchcliffe: North Oxford (Yale Univ. Press) - Oxfordshire Buildings Index, found at Oxfordshire Councils' web site - Town Plan of Oxford XXXIII.15.2 (1876), National Library of Scotland.

Hey, just want to know which part of england this picture is?

North Lodge of the University Parks, North Oxford, viewed from south. Built in 1862 by H. Wilkinson Moore. Grade II listed. Located at the northern gate of University Parks, where Banbury Road, Norham Gardens and Parks Road meet. This would have been a nice starting point for a walkabout to most of the North Oxford buildings shown in the collection of A. D. White Architectural Photographs. To the right, it's just a few steps to Wycliffe Hall at No. 54 Banbury Road, formerly named Laleham, photographed in this album from the west and southeast. Further northwards on Banbury Road, William Wilkinson built No. 60, "Shrublands", now part of Kellogg College. Even further to the right is Norham Gardens, with large residential villas, many of them later converted for accommodation or for institutional use, including No. 3 Norham Gardens shown in this album. Straight across the street were No. 31 Banbury Road, "The Firs" and the impressive "Springfield" villa at No. 33, both of them cornerstones of the site of St. Anne's College, today you find two mid-century student residences there instead. Nearby Bevington Road would pass you to some beautiful villas on Woodstock Road, but unfortunately, neither Nos. 113 and 115 nor the Italianate Walton Manor House at No. 141 survived the redevelopment era of the 1960s. Turn to the left from here and follow University Walk in south direction towards Keble College. On this section of Parks Road, there was a line of impressive Victorian houses at that time, including Nos. 17-18 (South & North Elms), now displaced by the brutalistic Holder building. But Nos. 12-13 (South & North Grove) and 14-15 (East View) still provide a glimpse of that era. Sources: - T. Hinchcliffe: North Oxford (Yale Univ. Press) - A. Spokes Symmonds: The Changing Faces of North Oxford, Books I & II View the other photographs of Victorian Architecture of North Oxford in this album.