The Library and Herbarium of the Botanic Gardens is a Grade I listed building in the Oxford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 12 January 1954. A Georgian Library. 6 related planning applications.

The Library and Herbarium of the Botanic Gardens

WRENN ID
spare-gateway-hawk
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Oxford
Constituency
Oxford West and Abingdon MP: Layla Moran (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
12 January 1954
Type
Library
Period
Georgian
Address
The Library and Herbarium of the Botanic Gardens, High Street, OX1 4AZ
OS grid reference
SP 520 061
Coordinates
51.75123, -1.24687
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Library and Herbarium of the Botanic Gardens is a Grade I listed building located on High Street, dating back to the 18th century. It consists of two buildings, which now include Magdalen College Bursaey.

The south elevation was originally a single-storey structure built between 1733 and 1735 to serve as the easternmost orangery, designed by William Townesend, an Oxford mason-architect. In 1835, the building was raised by one storey when H.J. Underwood designed the porter's lodge on the west side. The current south elevation features two storeys of ashlar stone, with a moulded cornice at the first floor and a parapet below it. It includes a three-sided bay with a central doorway flanked by a window. The tall sash windows have plain recessed reveals and rusticated keystones. The additional storey from 1835 is designed in the same style, at which point the building became the Professor's house.

The north elevation, also designed by Underwood around 1835, is two storeys of ashlar on a rusticated ground floor. It features a central section with four engaged Doric columns that project forward, a moulded entablature, and a parapet. There are five tall sash windows in moulded frames with scroll-bracketed cornices, along with five smaller sash windows on the ground floor.

All the listed buildings on the south side form a cohesive group.

Local climate

The Library and Herbarium of the Botanic Gardens sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 78% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 73% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 36 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 61% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 6 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. Wall to East of Magdalen College Bursary Grade I 15 m
  2. Wall Between Main Gate and Magdalen College Bursary Grade I 20 m
  3. The Main (Or Danby) Gateway in the Centre with Its Flanking Wall and 2 Doorways Grade I 33 m
  4. Stone on the East Corner of Magdalen Tower, in the High Street Grade II 41 m
  5. Magdalen Bridge Grade II* 46 m
  6. Magdalen College, Range on the High Street Grade I 60 m
  7. Fountain in the Centre of the Garden Grade II 62 m
  8. The Daubeny Laboratory the Manley Laboratory the Vines Wing the West Block Grade II 65 m
  9. Magdalen College, Hall, Great Quadrangle Grade I 73 m
  10. Magdalen College, Kitchen, Great Quadrangle Grade I 79 m