105, Banbury Road

This is a large house dating from 1886, designed by William Wilkinson and Harry Wilkinson Moore and built by Kingerlee. It was constructed in the Domestic Revival style in the North Oxford suburb, which developed from around 1860 on land owned by St. John's College. The college carefully controlled the development to ensure the quality of the houses and the provision of gardens and railings. Initially built for Major Henry Adair, the house is now used as student accommodation for Linacre College.

The house is constructed of red brick with scalloped tile-hanging to the gables and upper storey of the service end. Stone strings, decorative carvings, and window dressings are also present, along with plain tile roofs, wooden bargeboards, and red brick chimneys with offset caps. The plan is an irregular rectangle facing the street.

The façade is asymmetrical, featuring stone mullion and transom windows to the family quarters and wooden windows to the service end. The two-storey house has an advanced bay to the left with a gable on stone corbels overhanging a three-light attic window, and a two-storey canted bay with carved stone coping and segmental brick arches over the upper windows. The centre is gabled over a two-tier stair window with carved stone panels and elaborate leaded glazing. A projecting porch has a stone doorcase with carved stops, a keyblock, an oak-leaf frieze, and a scrolled stone pediment with a carved swag on elongated corbels. To the right is a service bay with lower floor levels and glazing bars to the windows, including triple sashes to the ground floor and an Ipswich window to the first floor, topped by a tile-hung gabled dormer. A lower two-storey extension in matching style is located to the far right. The rear features overhanging gables, an added rectangular bay window to the centre, and a conservatory rebuilt around 1990. The south side has a chimney bay with leaded ground-floor windows canted across corners under ogee corbels.

The interior includes an inner door with leaded glazing, an open-well staircase with paired slat balustrade, and a simpler service stair. An original fireplace with carved decoration and an oval overmantel remains in the ground-floor southwest room, along with some plaster cornicing. Inserted partitions have altered the original layout.

The house is considered of special architectural interest as a successful example of Wilkinson and Moore’s Domestic Revival style, characterized by the asymmetrical gables and finely carved stone details. Despite some alterations, including inserted partitions, the original plan and stair arrangements remain evident.