Holywell Music Room is a Grade II* listed building in the Oxford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 12 January 1954. A C18 Music room. 2 related planning applications.
Holywell Music Room
- WRENN ID
- floating-facade-soot
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Oxford
- Constituency
- Oxford West and Abingdon MP: Layla Moran (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 12 January 1954
- Type
- Music room
- Address
- Holywell Music Room, 34, Holywell Street, OX1 3SB
- OS grid reference
- SP 516 065
- Coordinates
- 51.75531, -1.2532
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Holywell Music Room, located at No. 34 Holywell Street, is a Grade II* listed building that began construction in 1742, designed by Reverend Dr. Thomas Camplin, Vice Principal of St Edmund Hall and Archdeacon of Taunton. It was opened in 1748 at a cost of £1,263. The building is a single-storey structure made of rubble, measuring 65 feet long, 32 feet wide, and 30 feet high, featuring an apse-like north end and a Welsh slate roof.
The south front is finished in stuccoed brick and set back about 38 feet from the street. It has a projecting rectangular ground floor with two semi-circular arched windows, a stone band, and a moulded cornice. The first floor contains three 18th-century sash windows set within a moulded pediment, which includes a blind circular lunette. On the east side, there are three semi-circular arched windows.
Historically, the Holywell Music Room is likely one of the earliest buildings in Europe specifically constructed for musical performances. The building is part of a group of listed structures on the north side of Holywell Street.
Local climate
Holywell Music Room 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 77% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 70% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 50% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 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 — 2 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
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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