St Annes College, Hartland House

Hartland House, St Anne's College, Woodstock Road

College building comprising library, offices, lecture and common rooms. Built in three phases: 1937 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for the Society of Oxford Home Students, funded by Mrs A G Hartland; continued in 1951 to Scott's original design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and Son for St Anne's Society; completed in 1972 in a curtailed version of Scott's design by the Gerald Banks Partnership for St Anne's College.

The building is constructed in Bladon stone in random coursed rubble with Clipsham stone dressings. The roofs are Stonesfield slate pitched in graduated courses, hipped at west and east ends with a decorative zig-zag pattern eaves cornice, otherwise finished with parapets bearing decorative crenellations. An offset plinth with dressed chamfered capping runs throughout. Concrete lintels, coloured to match the stone, carry stone soldier courses. All openings have boldly curved jambs. Windows are metal frame casements with bars.

The principal south front comprises a central two-storey, seven-bay range (1951) flanked by identical projecting three-storey blocks: the west block of 1937 and the east block of 1951. A two-storey, three-bay range (1937) extends from the west side of the west block, returning northward as a wing with a symmetrical west facade. A two-storey, two-bay range (1972) extends from the east side of the east block. The north front features projecting apsidal-ended stair turrets on each of the two three-storey blocks, flanked to east and west by single-storey service blocks.

A long corridor accessed from the central doorway in the west facade provides access to stairs and connects with a central cross hall entered through matching doorways on the north and south fronts. Each doorway is flanked by semi-circular attached shafts supporting bas-relief urns. Above the plain lintel appears the college arms in relief, flanked by scrolls each capped with a carved flambeau. Glazed wood doors with bars close the entrance.

On the south front, three-light casements with upper metal transoms flank either side of the doorway at ground level. The first floor has seven two-light casements with upper transoms. Each three-storey block has a similar three-light casement flanked by single-light casements on the ground floor. On the first floor, a central two-leaf French door opens onto a cantilevered balcony with decorative wrought iron balustrade. The flat lintel above each pair of doors is surmounted by a semi-circular arch containing a tympanum carved with a date—1937 on the west block and 1951 on the east block, each on a shield supported by beavers carved in relief. Narrow single-light windows flank either side of the doors. The second floor of each block has three windows with side pivot top lights.

The west wing has three three-light casements with transom on the ground floor and three single-light windows with transom and side pivot top lights on the first floor. Below the eaves cornice runs a carved inscription: "GET KNOWLEDGE: GET RICHES: BUT WITH ALL THY GETTING GET UNDERSTANDING". The eaves cornice to the east wing is interrupted by a dormer window.

The main entrance in the central west wall of the west wing is similar to the north and south doorways but features attached shafts supporting carved beavers, with the shield above carved with the donor's monogram and surmounted by a crest. A pair of wood doors with diamond-framed panelling closes this entrance. Single windows flank either side at ground level, with two pairs of windows to the first floor, all having upper side-pivot opening lights. Four long vertical windows on the north front of the west wing serve the library stack room, and a tall window lights each of the stair turrets above the ground floor entry doors.

Interior spaces—hall, corridor and principal rooms—have flush-panelled dados in Japanese oak with moulded dado rails. The library retains its original 1937 bookcases and furniture. Both stairs feature wrought iron balustrades and ebonised handrails. Flush-panel doors, some with diamond four-pane glazed lights, have simple moulded architraves. Floors are wood block over concrete.

This building represents an important late example of Scott's attempt to create an architectural style with decorative richness as an alternative to the international style of the modern movement.