3, Norham Gardens

This is a two-storey house with an attic and basement, dated 1866, designed by Charles Buckeridge for Henry Hammons, a bookseller. A dining room and staircase wing were added to the west in 1895 by G W Drinkwater for Mr Pilcher, along with an outer porch of similar style. A conservatory was added to the east side in 1895 by J Weeks and Co of Chelsea. Minor alterations occurred around the year 2000. The house is constructed of yellow brick in English bond, with stone window dressings and a plain tile roof. It is built in the Gothic style, featuring ogee arched windows throughout.

The front of the house, facing the road, has two gables with two-light attic windows and three-light windows below. A shallow ashlar bay is present on the ground floor to the left. A porch projects to the right of centre, with a blind ogee tracery gable and a shouldered stone arch over a four-panel door. A timber outer porch sits on a brick base, featuring a lower gable, brattishing over a four-centred arch, and side lights with elaborate leaded glazing. An extension to the right replicates the style, displaying a re-sited stair window dated 1866 and 1895, with traceried lights, patterned leading, and tinted glass. This extension is canted around the corner, topped with a steep hipped roof rising to a small timbered gable.

The right side of the house has an arched doorway added around 2000, a gabled dormer, and a 20th-century fire escape. The left side features window labels and a 1895 timber conservatory with a side gable and ornamental leaded glazing to the top lights. The rear garden front features full-height canted bays, one with a gabled dormer, another with a dormer lantern set into the hip, and a gabled addition with a parapet and railings over a bay with leaded glazing.

The house retains a strong Gothic character, with an early extension reflecting the North Oxford pattern of improving dining room accommodation. It stands prominently overlooking University Parks as part of the flagship development of the St John’s North Oxford Estate and is one of the most elaborately detailed houses in the group.