Sutton Court

Sutton Court is a clergy house, now offices, dating to 1825. It was originally built for Reverend Charles Lacy, the incumbent from 1819 to 1839, and the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford. It is situated behind the church, in the churchyard.

The house is built of plum brick with stone dressings and has steep red tiled roofs. It is in a picturesque Tudor style, two storeys high with a cellar, and has a forecourt. It consists of three ranges with parallel gables, arranged in line at the north side but projecting to the south, with each range extending beyond the range to its east.

The front part of the central range contains a stone-floored entrance hall and staircase. A crenellated porch with octagonal brick corner turrets fronts the hall; it features a four-centred stone arched doorway with quatrefoil tracery in the spandrels, a moulded label, a two-light window to the left, and a plaque depicting a cardinal’s hat (from the arms of Christ Church). Half-glazed double doors lead into the property. The central range also has a steeply pointed gable parapet with coping following the slope, a blank sunk stone panel in the gable, and two two-light windows on the first floor. A large upper floor chimney corbels out from the east sidewall and has two fine spiral and reticulated moulded brick shafts with moulded bases and spurred caps.

The east range is set back and features a half-octagonal stone crenellated oriel window on the first floor, with a later canted stone bay window inserted below. A large canted stone bay window is on the east sidewall of a tall reticulated terra cotta chimney. A tall three-shaft elevation chimney projects at the rear of the east range.

The west range has a flatter gable parapet and includes a large three-light mullion stone window and a four-light window on the ground floor. A four-shaft decorative chimney is on the west sidewall, two of whose shafts are believed to be original.

Internally, the principal rooms are on the ground floor and feature plaster cornices and panelled woodwork. The staircase has a cast iron balustrade beginning under a half-arch with a foliate capital. Two stained glass windows, depicting the arms of Oxford University and Christ Church, are located on the staircase.

The west wings were added in 1873, replacing a projecting range shown on drawings from 1829 and 1832. The porch was heightened and extended westward to accommodate a new staircase, and a ground floor bay was added below the oriel on the south end of the east wing. In 1971-1975, the west end range was removed and the building was converted into offices, with a long extension added along the west side of the forecourt that is not of special interest. It is said that Reverend Lacy also designed the elaborate gatehouse at his own expense.