1, South Parks Road

612/0/10099 SOUTH PARKS ROAD 15-SEP-04 1

GV II House, now University of Oxford offices. 1868-9. By William Wilkinson. For John C. Wilson. Buff brick with red brick dressings and plain-tile roof with various elaborate ridge and end stacks. High Victorian style with string courses and mostly with stone mullion windows with sashes. Central entrance plan. 2 storeys and attic. Front has a pictureque outline with a central range with roof descending lower and with a gabled cross-wing either side. A 5-window range in all across the front at 1st floor. Central range has an elaborate gabled wooden porch and windows either side. 3 windows over. 2 gabled dormers on the long roof slope above. Cross wing to left has canted bay with 2-light window above and 3-light in attic. Right gable has 3-light with 2-light over and 3-light in attic. Single-storey gabled service wing projects forward on right and there is a projection culminating in a pyramidal roof with finial behind this wing. A further gable and sashes behind. Left side includes a side stack which slightly projects all the way up the wall. Rear is similar with a 4-gabled front with mainly 2- and 3-light stone mullion windows with sashes. INTERIOR. Good original joinery survives, including the staircase, and also stone fireplaces. This is a finely-detailed example of a suburban villa of the period by a well-known architect. The house also forms part of a good group of historic buildings including No.2, adjacent (q.v.), and Rhodes House (q.v.) opposite.