Wycliffe Hall

Wycliffe Hall comprises two former Victorian houses on Banbury Road in North Oxford, now incorporated into an Anglican theological college, linked by a chapel.

No. 52 was built in 1869 by architect Frederick Codd. It is constructed of yellow brick with window arches outlined in red brick, stone strings, window dressings and gable copings, and plain tile roofs with yellow brick chimneys with offset caps. The building is 2 storeys with semi-basement and attic, arranged in a 3 by 3 bay plan with irregular gables. The principal architectural feature is the use of Gothic arched windows with colonnettes and capitals elaborately carved with naturalistic flora, fauna and volutes. Windows have plate glass sashes. The south front at the junction with Norham Gardens has a slightly advanced central gable with 2-storey bay and a further gable to the right, with a narrow corbelled chimney to the front left. The entrance front to Banbury Road features a gable to the right, a gabled dormer with half-timbering to the left, an added bay window, and steps up to a wooden porch with overhanging trussed gable and patterned leaded glazing. The original half-glazed door has side lights and intersecting arched overlight. The interior retains original stairs with bobbin balusters and some moulded door architraves, though it has been heavily refurbished in the 20th century.

No. 54 was built in 1867 by architect John Gibbs as a private school for Thomas Arnold, tutor and son of the famous Rugby School headmaster. It has an extension to the north-east of approximately 1877, and a large southern extension of 1882–83 by Wilkinson and Moore for Wycliffe Hall. A former dining room was added to the front of the porch in 1913 by A.R.G. Fenning, and a present dining room was added to the rear in 1975. The original house is constructed of red brick with flush bands of polochrome brick and encaustic tiles, carved stone decoration, and slate roofs. It is 4 storeys with basement, built in Ruskinian Romanesque style with round-arched single-light windows and plate-glass sashes. The front has left windows flanking a chimney with a carved stone dragon corbel, and the base and canopy of an empty niche. A parapet to the right has a central projection on stone corbels; below this is a 2-storey porch with a stone archway on columns with carved caps, now concealed by the 1913 dining room extension in the form of a Perpendicular chapel. A wing extends at right angles set back to the left, with simpler matching extensions to both sides.

The chapel link of 1896 was designed by George Wallace in Perpendicular style with brick and stone dressings, featuring an octagonal turret and stone bellcote to the right. The chapel was extended to the rear before 1927, as dated by stained glass in the east window. The interior has cusped panelling and ribbed ceiling with elaborate wooden tracery infilling the trusses.

No. 52 was built as an ordinary dwelling house but was leased in 1870 to Miss Lydia Sellon, founder of Holy Rood Convent. The lease was sold in 1883 to trustees of Wycliffe Hall. No. 54 was used by Thomas Arnold as a private school, its extra 4-storey size providing bedrooms for pupils. It was leased to Wycliffe Hall from 1877 onwards for use as a college for training Anglican clergy. Both houses were built on land owned by St. John's College, Oxford, which leased plots as part of the development of the north Oxford suburb from about 1860.