The Pyramid House is a Grade II* listed building in the West Oxfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 27 August 1957. Gazebo.
The Pyramid House
- WRENN ID
- fallen-bronze-khaki
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- West Oxfordshire
- Constituency
- Bicester and Woodstock MP: Calum Miller (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 27 August 1957
- Type
- Gazebo
- Address
- The Pyramid House, Rousham
- OS grid reference
- SP 479 242
- Coordinates
- 51.91495, -1.30446
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Pyramid House is a gazebo built between 1733 and 1740 by William Kent. It is constructed from ironstone ashlar and features a pyramidal roof covered with plain tiles from the mid to late 19th century, topped with a finial. The structure is one storey high and has a semi-circular archway with imposts that extend around the flanking buttresses. Above the archway is a pediment adorned with an Egyptian-style portrait relief. Inside, there are three niches and two portrait reliefs. The building was designed to provide a view over the River Cherwell towards eye-catching features in the parish of Steeple Aston. It is an unusual structure, likely inspired by Vanbrugh's earlier pyramid at Stowe. The Pyramid House is part of the landscape gardens designed by William Kent during the same period. Rousham Park, where it is located, is listed in the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission Register of Parks and Gardens at Grade I.
Local climate
The Pyramid House sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 740 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 69% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 37 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 66% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 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
- No related consent applications matched
- 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
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