No. 15: St John’s College house
The present No. 15 St Giles' dates from just before 1820. It is a listed building (List Entry No. 1084344), and lies in St Giles' parish. It is now owned by St John’s College, but was originally owned by Balliol.
At the time of the 1772 Survey of Oxford there were two older houses on the site of the present No. 15:
- Miss Eaton with a frontage of 6 yards 1 foot 8 inches to the south
- The Duke of Marlborough with a frontage of 3 yards 2 feet 1 inch to the north.
In 1820 this house was described as “lately erected on a piece of ground whereupon heretobefore stood a messuage in the occupation of Walter Powell, gent., afterwards Mrs. Eaton, widow”.
In 1820 Balliol College granted Sir Edward Hitchings a lease of 14 and 15 St Giles; Street for 40 years for a payment of £145 2s 6d. and a rent of 5s. for the former and 20s. for the latter. He himself moved into No. 14, which adjoins the north side of the Lamb & Flag Inn, and let out this house to Bulkeley Bandinel, Bodley's Librarian.
Dr Bandinel remained there until 1832, when the following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 22 September 1832:
A very superior House in St. Giles’s, OXFORD
TO BE LET, with possession at Michaelmas next,–That spacious and excellent HOUSE, now in the occupation of the Rev. Dr. Bandinel; comprising breakfast, dining, and drawing rooms, suitable sleeping rooms, and offices; with a good garden; and every requisite for the residence of a most respectable family.
The house was let to the Revd James Hitchings of Wargrave, and occupied by the Oxford surgeon George Hitchings, Thomas Hitchings of Bayswater, and Thomas Benwell of Oxford.
By the time of the 1841 census Frederick Joseph Morrell (who was a solicitor in practice at 1 St Giles with his father Baker Morrell) was living here at No. 15 with his wife Elizabeth and their three young sons (Frederick, James, and Baker) and five servants. Ten years later in 1851 these three boys were absent (probably away at school), and there were four more young Morrell children at home. The family then had seven live-in servants (a governess, footman, cook, housemaid, under-housemaid, and two nurses).
The Morrell family moved to Black Hall at 21 St Giles soon after that census, and by May 1854 the house was occupied by the Revd George Butler and his wife Josephine (probably at first on a sub-lease), and their second of their three sons, Arthur Stanley, was born here. On 30 July 1855 Butler took out a 14-year lease on this house and opened the first private hall there under the new university statute of 18 May 1855, calling it “Butler Hall”. Unfortunately Josephine’s respiratory problems were exacerbated by the Oxford climate, so George took up the post of Vice-Principal of Cheltenham College in 1857. (They later moved on to Liverpool, where Josephine was to become famous as a social reformer and women’s activist.)
By the time of the 1861 census, the house was occupied by the Registrar of the University, Edward Rowden (46), and his wife Mary Ann and their six young children, plus a manservant, cook, housemaid, and nurse. He died here on 18 March 1870, and his widow Mary Ann Rowden remained in the house: she was here at the time of the 1871 census with three of her children and two servants.
Mrs Rowden continued to be listed at this house in directories, but at the time of the 1881 census she appears to have been letting it out, as it was then occupied by William James Herschel (48), a baronet and widower with two children, who lived here with his sister-in-law Selina Hardcastle and his two children, plus their seven servants (a governess, lady’s maid, cook, parlour maid, housemaid, nursery maid, and kitchen girl).
Mrs Rowden (70) was back in residence at the time of the 1891 census, together with her son Edward, who was a barrister at law, her two daughters, and three grandchildren, plus her cook and housemaid and her grandchildren's nursemaid.
Mary Ann Rowden died at the age of 82 near the beginning of 1901, and the census that year shows her daughter Miss Jessie T. Rowden (43) living here with her 12-year-old nephew John R. G. Robinson and their two servants.
In 1903 15 St Giles' Street was purchased by Father John O'Fallon Pope, Master of the predecessor to Campion Hall at 11 St Giles' Street. From 1904 to 1936 it was the Oxford Inland Revenue Office. At the time of the 1901 census Mrs Margaret Merton (39), the keeper of that office, lived here with her husband William who was a general labourer and their 11-year-old son. Mrs Merton was still the caretaker here in 1921, when her husband was an out-of-work house painter.
No. 15 was probably sold to St John's College when Campion Hall moved to Brewer Street in 1936, and was rented to the Commercial Union Assurance Company from 1937 to 1956. At the time of the 1939 Register the building was occupied by William D Merton and his wife Margaret, described as office cleaners, and their young son, and Oliver V. Calder, a retired Civil servant, and Cecil J. Calder, an artist, designer and painter who was probably his brother, lived in a separate household here.
From 1960 it was a branch of Boots the Chemist. The St Giles School of English (later known as the Eckersley School of English) was founded upstairs here in 1961 (and also occupied premises at No. 45 opposite from 1983).
In 1974 the chartered surveyors Carter Jonas were granted planning permission to turn the ground floor and basement into offices (74/00281/A_H).
In 1992 it was converted by T. S. H. Architects into a doctor’s surgery.
In 1999 St John's College was granted planning permission for change of use of 14/15 St Giles' Street for educational use (98/00392/NFH), and since 2000 No. 15 has been used as student accommodation.
| Occupants of 15 St Giles’ Street listed in censuses and directories |
|
1820–1832 |
Freehold messuage of Sir Edward Hitchings |
1833 |
Leased to the Revd James Hitchings of Wargrave, |
By 1841–1854 |
Frederick Joseph Morrell, Esq |
1854–1857 |
George & Josephine Butler |
1861–1901 |
Rev. Dr Edward Rowden Mrs Rowden (1871–1901) |
1904–1936 |
Inland Revenue Office |
1937–1956 |
Commercial Union Assurance Company |
1960–1976+ |
Boots the Chemists |
1980s |
Carter Jonas, chartered surveyors |
1993–2000 |
Doctors’ Surgery |
2000–present |
Student accommodation |