Belsyre Court

Belsyre Court is an apartment block with a shopping parade and former offices, built in 1936 to a design by Ernest R. Barrow. The building is located on Woodstock Road, in the North Oxford Conservation Area. It is a large, U-plan block constructed of red brick in English bond, with artificial stone dressings, colourwashed render to a colonnade, and slate roofs.

The main facade is in a Jacobethan style, featuring a courtyard opening onto Observatory Street. A classical colonnade fronts Woodstock Road, creating a covered walkway in front of the shops and curving in to a shallow crescent plan. The apartment block has four storeys, an attic, and a semi-basement. The courtyard elevations incorporate an artificial stone cornice with carved fleurons at the third-floor sill level, and gables over canted bays with cornicing and brattished parapets. The windows are artificial stone mullioned with metal casements and tile vents above. Balconies are provided on three tiers between bays on the north and west ranges, with elaborately turned wooden balustrading, built-in terracotta planting boxes, and plate-glass doors behind wide artificial stone Tudor arches. Similar canted balconies project at the end of the west range. Main entrances are framed by Tudor arches with plate glass double doors and curving handles. A plainer east range features bays on corbels and terminates with a classical arched doorway, completing the return of the colonnade. The courtyard is enclosed by brick walls and piers with artificial stone coping, caps, and a Tudor doorway. Artificial stone balustrading, with ball finials, lines the steps down into the courtyard. An angled gable and bay turn the corner into the east front, which faces Woodstock Road, and features similar apartments above a Tuscan colonnade with single triglyphs over the columns and end bays in antis. The shopfronts behind the colonnade largely retain their original woodwork, including plain base panels and a frieze with plain paterae over panelled pilasters; two shops retain the original varnished finish. They feature plate glazing with top lights, and there have been minor alterations to the entrances of some individual shops. The interiors were not inspected.

The building stands along Woodstock Road, a secondary arterial route through North Oxford. Belsyre Court is of special interest for its Jacobethan style, its courtyard plan, and the accurate period detail achieved through the use of high-quality artificial stone and metal casements. It also provides a parade of small shops with a grand Tuscan colonnade, creating a significant focal point on Woodstock Road.