2, South Parks Road

612/0/10106 SOUTH PARKS ROAD 15-SEP-04 2

GV II House, now University of Oxford offices. 1865-6. By William Wilkinson. For George Rolleston. Brick in 3 colours with brick dressings, string course and eaves cornice. Plain tile hipped and gabled roofs with terracotta flashings and various elaborate ridge stacks. High Victorian style with Gothic arched relieving arches of various types over segmental or flat brick stone arches to sash windows. 2 storeys and attic. Front has picturesques outline with scattered fenestration, the element on the left projecting forward. Entrance is on right end in a gable end formed as a frontespiece with a window to left of entrance and 2 windows over. Half-timbering in gable apex. To right is a square projecting bay with paired sash and pentice roof. The rear is a long carefully-composed front, its 3 elements receding slightly to right. It includes gables and half-hipped gables and a pepperpot turret corbelled out at 1st floor level and rising through 2 storeys.

This is a finely-detailed example of a suburban villa of the period by a well-known architect. The house forms part of a good group of historic buildings including No.1 adjacent (q.v.) and Rhodes House (q.v.) opposite.