Blackfriars

Blackfriars, Oxford

A Dominican friary built between 1921 and 1929 by Doran Webb, incorporating a 17th-century building within the front range. A staircase tower and short ancillary range at the rear were added around 1951 by Rayson and Partners. The building is constructed of Cotswold stone with tiled roofs.

The complex follows a quadrangular plan. The front range to St Giles contains the library, administration and teaching accommodation. The south and west wings house the friars' accommodation above a dining hall, and a large chapel with tower stands to the east. These are linked at the centre by a smaller first-floor chapel over a narrow passageway. The chapel is designed in late Gothic style, whilst the conventual buildings adopt a Cotswold 17th-century vernacular character. The structures are two storeys with attics throughout, except for the towers and main chapel.

The St Giles frontage comprises four sections of three bays each, divided visually by downpipes with large rainwater heads. The left section rises to three storeys with a gable, featuring sash windows and a dentil cornice; the remaining sections are two storeys with attic dormers set behind the parapet. Stone mullion and transom windows with leaded casements appear throughout, with a thick sill band marking the first-floor level. The entrance lies right of centre, accessed through a gated round arch flanked by pilasters. A statue in a shell niche above commemorates the return of the Dominicans to Oxford in 1921. The rear elevation is similar, with attic windows set under gables flush with the parapet and a four-centred arch leading into the courtyard. The 17th-century fabric does not survive externally. The south range features attic dormers set back in the roof above the parapet. At its western end, the staircase tower range projects as a flat-roofed five-sided bay constructed of larger ashlar slabs, with stepped windows set in panels of long vertical mouldings creating a fluted composition. A cornice band with gargoyles and a sloping sill band reflecting internal level changes are notable features. An entrance door between engaged columns bears a frieze above bounded by inverted volutes in 17th-century Renaissance style. The side elevation is left in brick with windows set under exposed concrete lintels, originally intended for subsequent additions that did not materialise by 2000. The chapel exhibits late perpendicular tracery with cusped panels, three lights to the chancel and five to the nave, and a crenellated parapet. A seven-light liturgical east window (facing west) illuminates the interior. A central square tower with cusped two-light belfry openings and crenellated parapet with finials and corner stair tower rises over the central linking chapel, which itself has simpler cusped three-light windows in a more 17th-century idiom.

Interior spaces reflect the building's religious purpose. Friars' rooms are austere, accessed from long corridors. The front range contains a ground-floor reading or drawing room panelled with doubled panelled doors with pilaster surrounds flanking a stone fireplace; the overmantel is possibly of 16th or 17th-century Spanish origin and is lit by pendant lamps. A turned baluster staircase leads to the first-floor library, which extends into an attic balcony via a further narrow stair. Exposed roof trusses complement timber bookcases, and memorial stained-glass panels commemorate important figures in Dominican history and patronage, mainly English in origin. The south wing's ground-floor corridor is particularly impressive, wide and spanned by an exposed timber ceiling. Also at ground level is the dining room, featuring a flat plaster ceiling in late perpendicular style and a chequered tile floor. A four-centred arched door provides access to the kitchen. The west wing contains a handsome cantilevered stone staircase designed by Rayson and Partners, with undercut ovolo-moulded treads creating a dramatic composition when viewed from below. Steel balustrading complements unplastered stone walls. The staircase rises from a round-arched hallway to a meeting room.

The night chapel above the linking passage is inspired by 17th-century precedent. A three-light window opens onto the main chapel to the north and features more elaborate cusping and moulding than other windows. The interior contains a timber altar with tripartite mural and timber roof pendant lights, while a stone doorway with four-centred arch provides access. The main chapel is surprisingly spacious and filled with light from clear-glazed windows. Its timber arched ceiling spans the interior. The main altar stands on five steps; the chancel and sanctuary feature black and white tiling, with black and white bands marking the processional route around the nave. Chancel stalls were inserted in 1963 by Colin Fleetwood-Walker. Other furnishings date from the 1920s and display consistent character. The nave contains chairs with a single aisle incorporating side altars.

The building represents a fine example of 1920s conventual architecture in a domestic vernacular style, with a large and impressive chapel distinguished by its simplicity. The 1950s additions further enrich the ensemble, particularly the staircase, which demonstrates novelty in both design and craftsmanship of a high order.