Wykeham House

Wykeham House is a substantial Victorian Gothic residence at 56 Banbury Road, Oxford, designed by architect John Gibbs in 1866 for Henry Hatch, a draper. The house was extended in matching style in 1884 and 1894, with a conservatory added to the front right in 1900 by H.W. Moore, and a rear extension built in 1992–3.

The house is constructed of yellow brick with red brick window arches and stone dressings beneath slate roofs. It displays High Victorian Gothic style with a broadly rectangular plan containing many projections. The façade is asymmetrical and distinctive: the original 1866 section has a gable to the right and a castellated porch to the centre, alongside a wide left bay with single lights flanking the front chimney. The chimney is particularly notable, with an arched stone tablet at its base carved with a bishop's mitre and the inscription 'Wykeham House', together with the Gothic inscription 'Manners mayketh Man'. Above this stands a canopied stone statue of William of Wykeham carved by W. Forsyth of Worcester, though the top of the chimney was rebuilt in the late 20th century. Flanking single-light windows feature cushed stone arches with columns and carved capitals. The right gable contains two-light windows set in arched stone tympana with carved roundels, one inscribed 'E III', within an advanced gable decorated with carved stone dragons. Paired attic lights sit above, supported by a carved corbel to the roof vent.

The 1894 extensions include an extended porch dated on its stone parapet, with marble columns to the front and a curved service stair descending to the basement on the right side, fitted with leaded lights. A three-storey tower with matching windows, triple top lights and a pyramidal roof was also added to the left corner, dated 1894. A matching gabled extension set back to the right of the house features a window dated 1884, now concealed within the 1900 conservatory. The irregular rear façade contains extended attics (some on corbels), a projecting WC tower, and the 1992 extension.

The interior retains several period features. The entrance hall has a Gothic arch to the porch, a polygonal bay to the rear corner, and windows with leaded lights and coloured margins. A dog-leg wooden staircase rests on a Gothic arcade, with a two-tier balustrade of slats and turned columns. The service stair has a ramped handrail, skirting boards, and built-in cupboards. The ground floor retains moulded ceiling cornices and embossed wallpaper in the front left room, though doorways and fireplaces have been removed. The first floor is less altered, retaining small painted stone fireplaces. The basement, though re-partitioned, preserves matchboarding and a stone fireplace with an Art Nouveau grate in the house-keeper's room.

The house was extended in 1884 and 1894 for E.B. Poulton, Professor of Zoology. It is prominently sited at the entrance to North Oxford's Norham Manor estate, an area that evolved from about 1860 on land owned by St. John's College, Oxford. The College controlled the development carefully, vetting all designs for quality and ensuring adequate front walls, railings, and rear gardens. Wykeham House makes a special contribution among the row of substantial show houses that mark this estate's entrance. The building is currently used by Oxford University Careers Service.