St Hugh'S College Kenyon Building

St Hugh's College Kenyon Building

Study bedrooms for 47 undergraduates, three flats for fellows and caretaker, and a common room, built 1964-1966. The architect was David Roberts, with associates Geoffrey Clarke and Peter Hall.

The building is constructed of reinforced concrete clad in red brick, with exposed concrete balconies and fascias (now painted), flat roofs, and a projecting lift shaft, stairwells and flue. It adopts a staggered, V-shaped plan around a central stairwell.

The structure rises four storeys above a raised basement, which contains the common room, laundry, boiler room and caretaker's flat. The first floor houses the fellows' flats facing south. The upper floors follow a common plan with study bedrooms, each with a south-facing window arranged around the central staircase.

The north façade is broad and largely blank, dominated by two brick piers which house the lift, escape stairs and bathrooms, with external stairs leading to the entrance between them. Windows appear only in the return angles of the piers and in the entrance and corridors. The other elevations feature stepped sections with panels of brickwork alternating with vertical bands of black sashes. Rooms on the south elevation have balconies except for first-floor flat studies, which sit between narrow brick piers. Steel handrails are fitted to opening sashes and balconies.

The interior is dominated by a dramatic central staircase rising straight for three full flights through the middle of the building. The stairs, walls and balustrade are of exposed concrete, marked with a pattern of fixing holes and circular openings, with timber handrails. A board-marked concrete boiler flue runs through the open well on one side. At each floor, landings lead to corridors screened by opaque glass, with wired glass used for corridor windows and doors. Glazed rooflights are installed throughout. A dome with glass lenses tops the tiled entrance vestibule. Study bedrooms feature built-in window seats and shelving fitments that divide the dressing area. The common room includes built-in counters.

St Hugh's College was founded as St Hugh's Hall in 1886 for girl students. It became a college by name in 1911 and a full college in 1959. The Kenyon Building is named after Dame Kathleen Kenyon, an archaeologist who served as warden of St Hugh's from 1962 to 1973.